One Teen Changed It All
by StupidMajor
Summary: the gang go to paris during the 23rd century and stumble across a teen and bring her aboared. what it a good idea? 9Rose JackOC. first story in reunited series. COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 1

**One Teen Changed It All**

**Disclaimer: I do not own doctor who, but I do own the teen**

**A/N: forgot to put in summary: 9thRose paring…there may be more parings**

**i am sorry that i took words off of "the clan of the cave bear" i did not meen to. i hope you forgive me. but, if you want to kno the truth (you won't believe me) i have never read that story. but i still an very sorry.

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**Chapter 1**

Rose sighed and slumped further into her chair. She was bored, absolutely bored. Just a few hours ago, they had just managed to escape from dangers clutches and were floating throught time and space. Jack and the Doctor were tying to fix the TARDIS after a malfunction, to no success.

Sighing again, she got up from the chair and went over to the Doctor who was under the TARDIS controls. Bending down, she peered into the hole he was in and couldn't help but smile. He was covered from head to toe with what looked like grease, he was tangled in a mat of wires, and was swearing in, what she thought, was him home language. "Doctor?"

"Yea Rose?" he asked without stopping with whatever he was doing. Rose rolled her eyes, took his legs, and dragged him out from under the TARDIS. He looked up at her surprised. "You know it would help if I was actually talking to someone, not a hole in the controls."

The Doctor jumped up and gave her a hug. _'Whoa, this is not the Doctor'. _"Sorry Rose, now were do you want to go?" he asked and started messing with the controls.

"Can't we go on a vacation? You know, somewhere without the danger."

"I have to agree with her there Doc. A vacation sounds kind of nice." Jack said as he climbed down a ladder close by.

The Doctor threw his hands up in defeat, "Alright, alright. A vacation it is."

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"Were are we?" Rose asked as they stepped outside of the TARDIS. The place was beautiful. There were beautiful gardens, buildings, and the…. "We're in Paris!" 

"Correct Rose Tyler, we are indeed in Paris, France. Some where around the 23rd century. Now come on," he said and held his hand out for her to take, which she gladly accepted. "It's time to explore." Hand in hand, the Doctor and Rose wondered off into the streets of Paris. Jack, who was still back at the TARDIS, rolled his eyes and went off in his own direction, were he spotted a couple of females heading into a store.

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**So what do you thing? Should I continue? Please tell me..please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: One Teen Changed It All**

**Disclaimer: do not own doctor who, own the teen

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**Chapter 2**

"So Rose, what do you want to do now?" The Doctor asked. They had just got done sightseeing and were now sitting down on a bench. Rose was leaning against his shoulder watching the people of the century go by.

"I could go for ice cream," Rose said.

"Ok, let's get going!" the Doctor said, but before they could get up, a loud scream echoed through the streets.

"Aww man, I just wanted one free-of-danger vacation and look what I get!" Rose complained. The people around them were in a fury of panic. In the distance, loud bangs were heard, and they were getting closer. "Doctor, what is that noise?"

"I have no clue. Ready for an adventure?" he turned to her and gave his famous grin. Rose nodded and they were off.

As they got closer to the bangs, a huge metal bug got bigger and bigger. When they reached the bug, they both got a surprise. There, standing in front of them, was a gigantic spider. It had three very long legs and it had a head like a flying saucer, but oddly enough, it was not moving. Below it, a large army stood, with its guns pointed in one direction. Rose turned her head to see what they were pointing at and gasped. "Doctor, is that, a girl?" She asked and pointed at the lonely figure. The Doctor eyes followed her finger and nodded slowly. In front of the large army was a teen, that looked about sixteen or seventeen. Her hair went down to about mid back and her clothes were worn and torn.

"What is that human doing! She's not going…" Rose's hand flew over his mouth.

"Shh, she's talking." Rose was right.

"Snake, show yourself, or I'll kill your entire army!" the teen yelled. A young man stepped out from the huge army and stepped forward.

"You foolish girl, you had to be stupid an follow me. Men, leave, I will take care of this foolish girl."

"Yes sir!" they all coursed and disappeared in a flash of light. Snake took out a sword type weapon and started advancing towards the teen. The teen moved into a fighting stance and pulled out the same weapon as Snake. Their weapons clashed and the whole city seemed to stop, only the battle raged on. A scream of pain thunders through the open plain of buildings, soon to be followed the clanking of metal on metal. The girl panted as she rushed forth once again to the un-marked evil, a sly smirk graced Snake's lips and seemingly effortlessly, he leaped above the girl, leaving her to skid to a stop turning to face the great evil once more.

She was exhausted, she panted heavily, as blood leaked from her arms, sides, stomach, back, and chest. Her flawlessly brown hair was stained with her own blood, as her peachy-looking skin was tainted as well with the crimson color. She gripped her sword once more, and proceeded to rush.

Snake though, held a great sense of pride, seemingly being able to tire the young girl so easily, he leaped back with little effort before drawing out the sword quickly and deflected the girls attempt to hit him, he then charge forward, and said "Well then, since you won't surrender, I'll just take your life!" lashing out at her chest, a pleased smirk graced his slender lips.

She screamed once more... the burning sensation in her chest was almost un-bearable, she withdrew his body and leaped up just in time, another second delay and Snake would have killed her. She leaned against the sword in an attempt to catch her breath

"Doctor, should we help her?"

"Rose…" It was too late, Rose had already gotten up and was running full speed towards the battle. Snake was the first to notice her and ran towards Rose. On seeing this, Rose stopped and stared there stunned. Snakes huge sword came coming down on top of her head, but instead of hitting human flesh, it hit solid concrete. Looking up, the second girl was not there. Franticly looking around, he spotted the second girl, Rose, with is worst enemy.

"Snake, how dare you try and hurt a innocent girl!" the girl yelled. She was standing full height and had Rose protectively behind her.

"Damn you girl!" He yelled and disappeared in a flash of light. The girl sighed and turned to Rose. Rose just nodded.

"Rose! Rose!" the girl turned and noticed a tall figure running towards them. Rose stepped out from behind the girl and ran to him. "Oh Rose, I shouldn't have let you do that, I'm so sorry." the Doctor pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Rose, Doctor!" Jack yelled and ran towards them. "What happened?" The Doctor was about to speak, but Rose got there first.

"We ended up finding a whole army, and this girl was facing all of them. And the leader came out and she fought him, hey were is the girl anyways?" The all turned their heads and looked around them. Just a few feet from them, the girl was staggering away. They ran after her. When they reached her, she staggered and fell to her knees. Jack quickly went to her.

"Kid, are you alright?" He asked and tried to help her up. She just pushed him away.

"Go away, I don't need you help."

"No your hurt,we can help you." Jack tried again, but with no success.

"Go away!" She yelled and started caughing up blood. Jack went infront of her and looked at her.

"Please, your going to have to trust me. Ok?" The girl nodded and Jack picked her up slowly. She let her head rest against his chest and she succumbed to the darkness.

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**So what do you think? Am I rushing it too much? Please tell me! Oh and if you don't review I wont update!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: One Teen Changed It All**

**Disclaimer: do not own doctor who, own the teen**

**Me: sorry it took so long. My stupid computer broke again and I had to wait to get it fixed. Do you know how long it takes for a stupid computer to get fixed? I mean come on….**

**Rose: Sam!**

**Me: yea?**

**Rose: shut up!**

**Me: oh right..sorry..on with the story!**

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Chapter 3

"Will she be alright?" Jack asked, looking down at the teens sleeping form.

The Doctor had, rather unceremoniously, dropped her on the floor on entering the TARDIS. Jack had his suspicions it had something to do with him worrying about Rose.

"She'll be fine," the Doctor said dismissively as he programmed some flight co-ordinates into the TARDIS. "She'll have one hell of a pain in the side when she wakes up though!" he added merrily.

Jack looked down at the teen again. She was lying on her side, her brown hair covering her face, one hand protecting her face from the grill like floor of the TARDIS, the other resting on the floor beside it. She looked peaceful.

Jack crouched down beside her and moved to brush her hair out of her face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Doctor said.

Jack looked up at him, but he was facing the console and apparently hadn't even looked round.

"Why not?" Jack asked, bushing his hand softly over the slumbering girl's face.

The next thing Jack knew, the teen had managed to swing her leg round, knocking him clean off his feet, before kicking him sharp in the chest, pushing him a good two feet away from her.

"_That's _why," the Doctor said, still not looking round from the console.

"You could've warned me!" Jack said, rubbing his chest and wincing slightly.

"I did try," the Doctor said, "Not my fault if you're too stupid to listen!"

"Sorry," the teen said and looked at Jack, who waved it off. Rose wandered over to the girl and sat down beside her.

"Hello! I'm Rose, that tall guy is The Doctor, and the one you just kicked is Jack. How's your side?"

" Hurts like hell, but I'll be fine. Oh, and I'm Aaron. How did you know I would kick him?" She asked the Doctor.

"That bracelet, it's from the planet Varcon. The people there are like assassins." Aaron laughed.

"So, were am I?"

"Oh right, welcome to the TARDIS. Stands from time and relative dimensions in space."

"You're a time lord?"

"Yep!" Aaron just stared at him. _'That can't be. The time lords died! Then how is he alive? He reminds me of someone, I just know it!'_

'_**He should.' **_a female voice said in her head.

'_Who are you?' _

'_**Come on, don't you recognize me?'**_

'_No, should I?' _

The voice laughed, **_'Of course you should. I'm the TARDIS, remember? Remember when you were young, you always played in her, with Theta?' _**Aaron's eyes turned into big saucers.

"Brother?" Aaron whispered.

"What?" Jack asked from the corner, still rubbing his chest like an eight year old.

"Theta?"

"Yea?" The Doctor said without even thinking, until he realized it was to late. Jack and Rose started at him, and Aaron gave a huge grin.

"Brother!"

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**Mwahaha cliffy! Lol…tune in next time to see what happens!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: One Teen Changed It All**

**Disclaimer: None of the characters in this bit of fluff belong to me apart from Aaron, who bears no resemblance to anyone living or dead. The story concept belongs to me and me alone, so in some famous dude's words 'It's mine, all mine hehehe' The characters belong to Russell T. Davis and various other people and I would like to ensure that I will fix any breakages to the characters myself and they will return, nearly as good as new (I hope)**

**Authors note: **

'_**Hello' **_- TARDIS mentally talking to Doc/Aaron

'_Hello'_ - thinking

"Hello" - speaking

_I am the god of all Daleks. I am immortal _- flash back

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**Chapter 4**

Jack and Rose sat there wide-eyed. "You have a sister?" Rose managed to get out.

"No, not that I know of." Aaron's smiled faded.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The Doctor shook his head and she sighed. "I should have known, its been over 800 years since you seen me and I've changed since then. Figured, mom said this might happen."

"I'm sorry."

"Wait, hold on a second," Jack interrupted from his little corner. "How can you be his sister? I thought Doc was the last time lord."

"I am," The Doctor said and walked over to Aaron. Bending down to her level, he stared into her eyes. _'She looks so familiar.'_

'_**I swear, each time you regenerate, you get even more stupid.'**_

'_Shut up will you.'_

'_**Not until I can get you to recognize your own sister! Come on Theta, think! Remember the little girl who would always come into your room, and have you play some kid game and you would always turn down?' **_That's when it hit him.

"_Come on big brother, I wanna play!" A small child squealed and jumped on her brothers bed._

"_Aaron, go away, I'm busy." The little boy said, not looking up from a book he was reading. Aaron stopped jumping and pouted._

"_But brother.."_

"_No."_

"_Fine!"_

"_Theta, Theta?. _Hello, TARDIS to Theta." Aaron waved her hand in front of his blank face. All of a sudden, she was pulled into a tight hug. After struggling for a few seconds, she realized that he remembered and relaxed. The Doctor pulled back and gave her a huge smile.

"So Doc, you going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Jack said and walked over to the 'reunion.'

"Jack, Rose, I would like you to meet my sister." The siblings laughed at the two companions faces.

"But how? I thought you were the last time lord?" Rose asked.

"That's true," Aaron said. "He is the last time lord. I am pure human."

"But how?" Jack asked, repeating Rose's question. Aaron sighed and started her story.

"Well, when I was young, his parents and my parents where the best of friends. Well, when they died from a rare disease, his parents took me in and I become a step-daughter or whatever you people call it. Well, about four months before the time war ended mom told me I had to leave Gallifrey (a/n im sorry if I don't spell it right), but she didn't tell me why."

"Whoa, hold on a sec, how come you said you were human? I didn't think humans could live that long!" Jack yelled in frustration and Aaron rolled her eyes.

"I was getting to that. Now before I was _rudely _interrupted," Jack gave an apologetic smile and she continued, "Just to answer his question, I am human, well sorta. You see, the people of my planet have a way of cheating death, just like the time lords, only different. We only get one change to regenerate, not thirteen. But there is a glitch in our regeneration. Instead of getting a new body, we end up regenerating into a two month old human child, which to tell you the truth, is quite odd. That's what happened to me about seventeen years ago.

"After I left Gallifrey, I got a job as a trader. One day while Krin, my trading partner, and I were in the Galorith system, we ran into a close enemy of the traders. After sustaining heavy damage, we crashed landed on the planet Varcon. I ended up regenerating and Krin died. A young couple found me and took me in as their own daughter. That was until I was four."

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**I decided to leave it there for now. I'm sorry its late and I have to go to work. But I promise I'll get more up soon! Chow!**

**Sammy**

**p.s. sorry if some of the info on time lords is wrong!**


	5. Chapter 5

**One Teen Changed It All**

**A/N: minni spoilers for boom town. (used some of its quotes, but I don't own them)**

**Disclaimer: don't own doctor who, own Aaron though

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**Chapter 5**

Aaron yawned and leaned back against the TARDIS wall, "It was judgment day on my planet.'

"What judgment day?" Jack interrupted again.

Rose threw a tool at him, "Will you shut it flyboy!"

"Thanks Rose, and I was getting to that. Judgment day is when the leaders of our army come and decide which boys have to come and join the army. My brother was one of them, but he never got a chance to leave. Snake and his army, also known as the Scorpions, came looking for men to join in his army. We rebelled and he attacked us. I managed to get away, but my home was destroyed. Ever since then I've been trying to get my revenge."

"I'm sorry," Theta pulled her into a hug. "I should have been there for you." She pulled back and gave her brother a smile.

"Don't be sorry. You didn't know. Now, can you help me up?" He laughed and helped her up. The TARDIS chose the moment to moan and come to a sudden stop.

"Houston, I think we have landed," Jack said and the three rolled their eyes. A knock on the door confirmed that they did, indeed, land. "If that's Ricky the Idiot, don't let him in." Theta said and leaned against the control panel.

"Doctor!" Rose said and punched him in the arm.

"Hey you two, cut it out," Jack said and tried to stop the fight. Aaron rolled her eyes and answered the door. "Who the hell are you?"

"What do you mean who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?"

"Aaron Sigma, whatever you're selling, we ain't buying."

"Get out of my way," Mickey said and pushed her aside, making her trip and fall backwards over a toolbox. She groaned and cursed in another language.

"Ricky!" Jack yelled and ran over to her. "Are you alright?" He asked and helped her up. She winced and leaned on to him for support.

"Besides the dizziness and pain in the side, I'm alright."

"Sure, come on, lets go and see if you hurt anything," he said and helped led her towards the infirmary.

"Fine."

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**sorry it took me so long to update, my computer was being stubborn again...please review!**

**sammy**


	6. Chapter 6

**One Teen Changed It All**

**Disclaimer: don't own doctor who

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**Chapter 6**

Jack ran a medical device over her side and sighed again, "I still can't believe he did that."

"Jack if you don't shut up, your going to be the one on this bed," Aaron smiled. "Now, who was that?"

"That, that was Mickey, aka Rickey the Idiot, Rickey for short. There, all done. I managed to repair the broken ribs, but if you fall like that again, they might break." Jack said and helped her off the bed. She sighed and headed back to the control room, Jack close behind.

"He seems nice," she joked.

"Sure, he seems to always breaks the TARDIS, get up in trouble, yells at.." Aaron threw her hand over his mouth and pushed him into a near by room. He raised his eyebrow in a flirtatious manner, she just rolled his eyes. "Listen."

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"Mickey, I can't believe you did that!" Rose yelled.

"I'm sorry I don't know she was hurt!"

"You didn't have to push her out of the way!"

"But…"

"Out!" Rose yelled and pointed to the door.

"Rose.."

"Out!" Mickey stared at her in disbelief, but quickly left. Rose sighed and sat against the wall. "I still can't believe he did that."

"Rose," Theta said and sat down beside her. She unconsciously leaned her head against his shoulder. "It wasn't his fault, he didn't know."

"I know, but he's been so mean lately. Ever since Cardiff…."

Theta pulled her into a hug, "Don't worry about him." He pulled back and gave her a cheeky smile. "How about we visit your mum for a bit."

"Let's just hope you don't get slapped again." Jack said as he entered the control room, followed by Aaron.

"Very funny flyboy. Now enough chit chat, let's go!" Theta said hopping up.

"For the years I've known you, I have never seen you get slapped by someone's mum." Aaron said and followed her brother out of the TARDIS.

"That's what I said!" They all laughed.

"How much coffee did he have?" Aaron whispered to Rose, who just laughed.

"I have no clue." She said and ran ahead to catch the Doctor, who was five feet ahead of the group. Aaron shook her head and smiled. 'Just like brother.'

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**what do you think? im i going to fast, slow, please tell me! **

**sammy**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"So what did you do this time doctor?" Jackie criticized as she handed out the tea. They were all sprawled out in the living room; Jack and Aaron on the couch, Theta in his chair (which he dubbed his the last time they visited), and Rose was on the floor by his feet.

"Jackie Tyler, what makes you think I did something?"

"You never bring Rose back this early, its only been a week!"

"That's it!" Rose yelled and stood up. "Doctor, shut up!"

"Thanks love."

"You too mum! Every time we come here, you both start world war three!" She huffed and sat back down in the floor. Both of them looked at her in shock.

"Can you three be quiet?" Jack said from the couch. They looked over and noticed the sleeping form of Aaron.

"Sorry."

"So who's the newcomer?" Jackie asked.

"That's Aaron, the Doctor's sister."

"I didn't know he had a sister."

"Neither did I. Doctor, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Theta was now sitting in front of the television, pointing his sonic screwdriver at it saying 'on'.

"I'm trying to turn this thing on!" All of a sudden, a black thing hit him on the head. "You use that idiot." All of them turned their heads to the sound of the voice, Aaron, who was sitting up, awake.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

She shook her head, "No, I woke up during world war three." She gave a cheeky smile. "Jackie, do you have any pain medicine?" Jackie nodded and set off to get some.

"Are you alright? Do you need anything?" Jack asked.

"I need for you to shut up." Rose and Theta laughed.

"So, what happened to you? It looks like you've been hit by a truck." Jackie said, handing Aaron the pills, which she gladly accepted.

"Feels like it, but that's not what happened. I've been hunting this guy, Snake, for about ten years now. The other day I ran into him in Paris, 2253. Almost got killed, until Rose here saved my life."

"That explains it, but how are you the Doctor's sister? You look so young!"

"Yea, so is he, but that's besides the point. After my parents died, his parents took me in as their own daughter. As for the young looking thing, my species regenerates - a way of cheating death- into a two month old human, which what happened to me." Jackie looked confused but nodded anyways.

"Yea, she's one pain in the ass sister if you ask me," Theta said and got up from the floor.

"Shut it will you. If you weren't my brother, I would have shot you with my sonic screwdriver by now."

"You have a sonic screwdriver?"

"Well, technically, its not mine, it yours. I stole your extra before I left home."

"You the one who stole it?" She nodded. "I should kill you."

"You love me too much."

"Yea, yea." He said and walked out the door, mumbling something about fixing the TARDIS. Rose got up and followed him.

"What's wrong with him?" Jack asked. Aaron just shrugged and tried to go back to sleep.

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"Doctor?" Rose asked, knocking on his bedroom door. When he didn't answer, she turned the knob to see if it was locked. She was in luck; he had forgotten to unlock it. Quietly, she entered his room. The room was pitch black, but the light from the hallway illuminated a slouched figure on the bed. "Doctor."

"Go away Rose," she frowned and went over and sat beside him.

"Doctor what's wrong?"

"I'm afraid Rose."

"Scared of what?"

"I'm afraid to lose her again Rose. I lost her once during the time war, I'm afraid of losing her again."

Rose put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Doctor, don't worry about that, be glad that's she's here with you, here and now. She's your little sister, she looks up to you."

"Rose," he pulled her into a tight hug. "You're the smartest stupid ape I've ever meant."

She laughed, "I'll take that as a complement."

He laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, "Come on, we should see if flyboy and pain in the ass have killed each other yet."

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"Aww, their adorable," Rose said about the site in front of them. Aaron was leaning against Jack, whose one arm was wrapped around her waist so she wouldn't fall off the couch.

"Yea, when there asleep," she playfully punched him on the arm. He smiled. "We should take a picture."

"Already did," Both turned around to Jackie, who was holding out the picture.

Theta grinned, "Blackmail!"

"Doctor!"

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	8. Chapter 8

**One Teen Changed It All**

**I want to thank all of those who have been commenting on my story! There greatly appreciated!**

_laced-with-fire_

_Aweena _

_Lindsey_

_LJQ_

_Casanova Black_

**Now on with the story!

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**Chapter 9**

"Rose, can you hand me the sonicinducer?" Theta asked from under the TARDIS controls. It was early in the morning (or at least on earth) and they were waiting for the two sleepy heads. So he had decided that he would do some fine-tuning on the TARDIS, and Rose decided she wanted to help too.

"The what?" Rose asked, frustrated.

Theta rolled his eyes, "The thing that looks like a deformed drill." He heard her digging through the toolbox and moments later, hand him the tool. The sound of the TARDIS door opening and closing caught his ear. 'Finally,' he thought and got out from under the controls. "Good morning sleepy heads! Did you two have a good sleep?" Aaron blushed and walked off, mumbling something about finding the wardrobe. Jack rubbed the back of his neck. Theta laughed, but changed the subject, "So were to next?"

The two companions looked at each other and shrugged. "Alright, a mystery planet it is!" He ran over to the controls and started randomly pulling levers and pushing buttons. After a few minutes of moaning and shuddering, the TARDIS came to a stop.

"So were are we?" Aaron asked. Jack turned his head and his mouth dropped. She was dressed in military BDU"s and a black tank top that showed off her muscles, which she must have acquired while fighting Snake. "Close your mouth before you attract flies," his jaw snapped shut.

"Aaron! What the hell happened to you?" Theta yelled from across the control room.

"Do you have to yell? Jeez, make me go deaf. Anyways, this.." she held up her right arm. It, in truth, looked like a robot arm. "This is a mechanical prosthetic arm. Have one for my left leg too. Lost both while fighting Snake. Surprised you didn't notice them when you first saved me. The pretty cool thing about these though is that it hooks up to every muscle and nerve."

Theta rubbed the base of his nose, "Sis, why didn't you tell be before, I could have fixed 'em."

"And you still can, but I wont let you. I have gotten rather attached to these things. Hey, did you happen to pick up a bag and a sword when you saved me?" All three of them stared at her. She rolled her eyes, "Hello? TARDIS to the three idiots. Has anyone seen my..oh there it is!" She went over to one of the corners and picked up her bag and sword.

"Jack, Rose, go ahead, we'll be out in a mo." Theta said, being the first one out of the confused state. They nodded and went ahead. "Sis," he walked over to her and put both hands on her shoulders. "Can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me that if you are in danger or are hurt, tell one of us. Can you promise me that?"

She sighed, "Promise. Can _you_ promise me something?" He nodded. "Promise me that you'll stop babying me?"

He laughed, "Promise. Now lets go save another planet!"

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**wow another chapter done! but dont worry, there is _a lot_ more to come! please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Aaron and Theta stepped out of the TARDIS. The planet was lush and green, it had lots of trees, and a warm climate. Three men dressed in, what looked liked Roman togas, stood near the TARDIS. One of the men stepped forward. "Welcome back Aaron," he said.

"Cojeck, how are you? I haven't seen you in a while!" Aaron said and gave Cojeck a hug.

"Indeed it has. Who are your friends?"

Aaron smiled, "This is Jack, Rose, and my brother, Theta."

The welcoming party bowed, "Welcome to Aru Orub. Please, follow us to the chambers were we can talk more comfortably."

The four fell in step behind the welcoming party. Aaron and Rose were chatting away like old friends, but Theta and Jack continuously scanned the area for any threats.

After about 15 minutes, they entered a beautiful village full of people. Cojeck led the group to a white marble building with classic Doric columns. They followed him inside to, what appeared to be, a banquet hall. A feast was set out before them on a low table and brightly colored pillows were spaced around the table on the floor. As they entered, so did the Orub's (as Jack dubbed them). Cojeck introduced them to the Protectorate, the leader of the planet.

"This is a special occasion. You arrived just in time for Kuron! Please, join us."

"We would be honored to join you."

"Aaron," Theta said in a warning tone.

"Theta," she said in a low voice. "This is an important event, we can't insult these people."

"You know how dangerous it is to sample food from planets I've never been to."

"Actually, no I don't, but I know these people. I spent over a month with them. Trust me."

The Protectorate invited them to take seats at the table, indicating were each person should sit. He split them up with two Orub's seated between them. Theta was at the head of the table, Aaron next to Cojeck and across from Rose. The Protectorate indicated a seat at the end of the table for Jack.

Theta, Rose, and Jack exchanged worried glances, but took their seats at the low table. Servant girls brought out trays of fruit, minni cakes, and pitchers of wine. After everyone had a cup full of wine, the Protectorate held up his goblet, "To a long and profitable year." The group held up their cups then hesitantly took a sip.

"Protectorate, this wine is the best wine I've ever tasted!" Jack enthused.

Rose, not the biggest wine consumer, also agreed, "Yeah, this is great!" she said and took a drink.

"Have to agree with ya there Rose," Theta said.

"Wonderful!" the Protectorate said as he clapped his hands twice, at which the servant girls returned with pitchers to refill everyone's glasses.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Theta awoke to find himself laying on a cold flagstone floor, a dull, thumping ache behind his eyes. The room was dimly lit and dank. "Ooooh," he groaned "I knew we shouldn't have eaten the local cuisine." He hauled himself up off the floor and was shocked to find he was in a prison cell, his sonic screwdriver gone.

Rose was passed out on the single cot in the cell. A man he had never seen before cowered in the corner of the cell. The young man had very short brown hair and wore an earth tone tunic and baggy pants.

"Who are you?" Theta snarled at the man, although he didn't mean to snarl, it was just that waking up in a cell never made him happy.

"My name is Luce." The man stammered.

"What is this place, why are we here?" Theta asked as he walked over to check on Rose.

He checked her pulse. It was strong, she was apparently passed out as he had been. Theta turned back to look at Luce. "Well?" He asked.

"You, you don't know?" Luce stammered.

"No! I don't know!" Theta nearly shouted.

"We are all to be sold into slavery." Luce confessed timidly.

"What!" Theta spun around and glared at the young man. "Why are we being sold into slavery?"

"I don't know why you are" Luce began, "but my amator is very sick. I could not leave her alone so I did not go to my work. They came and got me and put me here to be sold as a slave"

"Have you seen any others like us?" Theta asked.

"No." Luce shook his head. Then he nodded toward the still sleeping form of Rose. "Is she your amator?" He asked.

"My what?" Theta asked

"Your, uh,... your mate."

"Oh. No. She and I ah,... work together"

"That is too bad." Luce said dropping his eyes to the floor and looking profoundly worried.

His demeanor made Theta nervous. "Why is that?" he asked.

"Well," Luce stammered "She is a beautiful woman. They will sell her to the brothels."

"What!" Theta exclaimed.

"It is very bad there. Many men will attack her. If she resists they will kill her." Luce paused for a moment. "It is too bad she is not your amator, your ah, mate"

"What would happen to her if she was?" Theta asked.

"Then the two of you would be sold together, as a pair, and she would not be sent to the brothels"

"Here in your land, how do you prove that someone is your mate? Do you have papers, rings, what?"

Luce looked confused. "We do not need proof. We merely declare in front of a witness that we wish to claim one as our mate."

"And this is binding?" Theta asked.

"It is." Luce replied

Theta knelt on the hard flagstone floor by the cot where Rose was still passed out. He grabbed her shoulders and gently shook her. "Rose, wake up!" He said in a tone that was urgent but not harsh.

"Huh?" She reached up and put her hand over Theta's

"Rose, you've got to wake up." He insisted.

"Doctor? Where are we?" She asked as she struggled to get up. "Oh!" She put her hand to her head and sank back down on the cot.

"Yeah, I know." He said. "But we have bigger problems. I have no idea where Aaron and Jack are, but we are going to be sold into slavery. You have to pretend to be my ...ah..." He looked up at Luce.

"Amator" Luce supplied.

"Yeah, what he said, or you will be sent to a brothel!"

"What!" She nearly shouted as she jumped up off the cot.

"I hear the guards coming!" Said Luce

"Ok, Luce, what do I do to make her my mate?" Theta asked.

"Tell her that you claim her as your mate and kiss her. I will be your witness"

Theta turned to look at Rose who looked totally confused. The footsteps were getting louder. "Rose, I claim you as my mate." He said in a rush. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a quick, chaste kiss then turned to Luce. "Ok, is that good enough?"

"Yes. She is now your mate." He said. Just then four guards appeared outside the cell.

The guards wore black tunics, black pants, knee high black boots and carried weapons. Theta wondered how the SS fit into this society that seemed to be more ancient Greek or Roman than Nazi.

"What's going on here? Where are our friends?" he demanded of the guards.

"Silence slave!" The head guard shouted and the other 3 guards immediately aimed their weapons at him.

The head guard signaled to one of his subordinates who unlocked the cell. The three guards then entered while the head guard kept his weapon trained on Rose. He said "Do not attempt anything slave or I will kill the woman."

Theta figured this was as good of time as any to make his claim on Rose. "No! Don't hurt her, she's my mate!"

"What!" Exclaimed the leader. "She is to be sent to the brothels by order of the Protectorate."

"It is true." said Luce. "She is his amator."

"Very well, the Protectorate will get more money for a man and his mate than a mere woman." Rose bristled but said nothing. To his men the guard said "Shackle those two together." He indicated Theta and Rose.

"Yes m'lord." Said one of the guards as he placed an iron shackle on Rose's left ankle and Theta's right ankle. Then he placed a wrist shackle on Rose's left wrist and Theta's right wrist. The other guard put ankle and wrist manacles on Luce and shoved him toward the open cell door.

"Doctor, what is going on?" Rose asked, a little scared.

"Rose, I don't know any more than you do." He whispered

"Move!" Shouted the head guard as he shoved his staff weapon into the Theta's back.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm moving!" he growled.

The guards led them down a long corridor with rough hewn rock walls illuminated by torches set at 45 degree angles out from the walls.

The corridor opened up into a small auditorium with the prisoners standing on what appeared to be a stage. From another corridor Theta and Rose heard a familiar voice.

"Um, look, there must be some mistake here, we are friends of the Protectorate." It was Aaron

Aaron and Jack were shoved onto the stage along with a haggard looking woman and an old man.

"Aaron, Jack! Are you guys alright?" Rose questioned.

"Fantastic," Aaron said sarcastically.

"Aaron, what the hell is going on here?" Theta continued "The last thing I remember was that wine the Protectorate had us all drinking."

"I don't know Theta, but it appears that we were drugged." Said Aaron.

"Fantastic." Just then the Protectorate himself appeared on the stage with Cojeck at his side.

"Um, Protectorate, thank goodness you're here to rescue us." Aaron blurted.

"You are mistaken Aaron. I am the one who had you sent here."

"But, ...why?" Stammered Aaron.

"Umano!" He nearly spat the word in his hatred. "You think we are simpletons! That we don't know the value of our aquanda?"

"Uh..." Aaron stammered.

"We have a very delicate balance here Aaron." The Protectorate went on. "Our people, our slaves, mine the aquanda and the Scorpions send a ship every 3rd lunar cycle to collect. In return for the aquanda they leave our world alone. As long as we mine it for them they see no reason to bother with us. There are not many of us on this planet, they have no need to enslave us when they get what they want for free"

"But you're enslaving your own people for cryin' out loud!" Jack said, a little too boisterously.

"They are our people Jack. We are free to do with them as we please.

"So, why didn't you just say that? Why all the subterfuge?" Asked Aaron "We would have gone away, I mean we will still go away, and not bother you again."

"No!" Responded the Protectorate. "We cannot risk the Scorpions finding out that you made contact with us. We have a delicate balance here and you are a threat to our very existence!"

Cojeck spoke up "Not to mention that because of our very small population we are always in need of more slaves to work the mines. It couldn't have worked out better for us"

"My Captain tells me that you, Theta, claimed the Rose as your mate to save her from a life of prostitution."

Jack looked confused and Aaron mumbled something under her breath.

"How noble of you. But no mind, that works in our favor too. Our population is small and your children will be taken from you immediately and become citizens of our world." The Protectorate gloated.

"Our children! What the hell are you talking about! We are **_so_** NOT having any children, I can guarantee you that!" Shouted Rose.

"That is too bad Rose. I'm sure the men who guard the slaves in the mines will be quite pleased when I make a present of you to them!" The Protectorate's voice was oily.

Suddenly one of the Nazi guards approached the Protectorate and bowed deeply. "Sir," he said, the men are here for the slave auction and are anxious to begin."

Another Nazi ushered in one more woman, who looked to be about 18 and a young man in his 20's. The Protectorate pointed toward the young man who had just been brought in "He looks strong, he will fetch a high price. As for the Theta and Rose..." he turned toward them, "Theta, although you have claimed Rose as your mate our marriage laws are not binding on you. You may work in the mines and Rosewill be given to the men"

"No!" Theta responded vehemently. "I claimed her and I meant it!"

"Very well." Said the Protectorate. "Send the four Umano to the mines. Do not sell them."

"This is worse than the Daleks!" Rose couldn't contain her anger.

"And what of this one?" The head Nazi indicated Luce.

"I have worked in the mines before, Protectorate, when I had a debt to pay." Luce confessed humbly.

"Very Well." said the Protectorate. He turned to the head Nazi and with a wave of his hand said "Send this one with the Umano. All the rest of these go on the auction block." With that the Protectorate was gone.

The Nazi guards shoved the rest of the 'slaves' into a straight line on the small flagstone stage as the prospective buyers shuffled to the stone benches facing the stage.

The slave buyers were an eclectic group. Some wore filthy clothes and looked like escaped criminals. Others appeared to be upper middle class and a few even wealthy. The bidding began with the young woman. She wept silently as two rival brothel owners haggled over her. Finally, the wealthier looking of the two won the bidding and she was taken off the stage. The other brothel owner purchased the haggard looking older woman.

He said to his rival "My patrons won't care, as long as she is breathing."

His cold comment sent a shiver down Rose's back.

Several of the men were showing great interest in Rose and Aaron until the head guard told them they were not for sale.

"I feel like a piece of meat on display in a butcher shop!" Rose whispered to Theta.

"Silence slave!" shouted one of the guards as he shoved her in the back with his weapon.

"Hey! Everybody just play nice now!" Jack said which earned him a painful crack in the back with the weapon.

Two of the Nazi guards approached carrying a heavy chain between them. "Captain!" One of the men addressed the head guard, "here is the chain for these slaves"

"Good. Hook them up!"

The chain circled around each prisoner's waist, with 2 separate chains with wrist shackles attached to the chain at each individual's waist. Jack was chained at the head of the line. A three foot length of chain separated him from Aaron, who was second in line. Luce was in the middle of the line, followed by Theta and 3 feet of chain later, at the end of the line, was Rose.

The Captain addressed the new slaves. "Do not attempt to escape. My guards carry modified weapons that inflict great pain. While it will take several simultaneous hits from one of these weapons to kill you, that is not their main purpose. They are meant to keep you in line with the pain they will cause to be endured."

With that he walked away and mounted his horse. Some of his higher ranking guards also rode horses but the rest walked, some in front of the group, some behind them and half a dozen on either side of them.

"Move slaves!" Shouted one of the guards from behind the group and gave Rose a shove in the back causing her to stumble forward.


	11. Chapter 11

-1**Chapter 11**

After 2 days of hiking, the entourage finally arrived at the mines. As they approached the mine, all of the group were scanning and assessing the area, looking for a way to escape.

The group was paraded down the main street of a village that was home to the guards that worked the mines. There were a few shops, several taverns and brothels. Off duty guards were everywhere. Most were dressed in the same uniforms as the guards that escorted the 'slaves' except that their uniforms were brown instead of black.

Once past the village, a large rocky outcrop loomed in view. At the base of the high, craggy, rock formation, was what appeared to be a huge entrance to a cave. As far as anyone could see there was only one way in or out of the rock mountain and it was through the cave entrance that lay in front of the group.

The Captain of the guard dismounted and tied his horse to a post outside the entrance of the cave and then signaled his men to bring the group forward. There were half a dozen Scorpions guarding the entrance to the mine. The Captain strode up to the head Scorpion, indicated the prisoners and said "New workers for the mine."

One of the Scorpions looked at Aaron and bowed, "My Lady."

Aaron rolled her eyes, "Hey Paolo. Is my husband here?" The guard nodded. "May I go see him?" Paolo nodded and unshackled her. She turned to her friends, "See you in a bit, whatever you do, do not get in a fight." She said and followed Paolo. They rest just stared at her in confusion.

The Captain turned to them, "Follow me!" He commanded and led the way into the cave.

As they entered the cave, the group found themselves in a wide, rough hewn passageway. The guards led them down the steep sloping passageway about 200 yards until the passage opened up onto a huge, domed area with a stage carved out of rock at the far end. The Captain of the guard waved a hand device in front of a lighted panel and a force field disengaged.

After the group was completely in the domed room, the Captain waved the device again and turned the force field back on.

The group, still in chains, was led down to the stage and made to stand in a straight line in front of the dais. Suddenly a huge man appeared, wearing the brown Nazi-type uniform, with many badges and insignia. The man looked at the group before him with dark, malevolent eyes. After surveying the group the man stated, "My name is Claudio and I am the Supreme Ruler of this facility"

"What I wouldn't give to have the Dalek fleet here right now." Theta replied sardonically.

Without hesitation, one of the guards shot Theta with a modified weapon and he went down in a heap twisting in pain. Rose immediately knelt beside him and checked his vital signs. She looked up angrily at Claudio, her hand still on Theta's chest, but said nothing.

When Theta was again able to stand, Claudio continued. "There is no escape from this facility. This is a very wealthy mine, we not only remove aquanda, but crystals that the Scorpions use for many applications, as well as a mineral we call fire chondrite that our own people use. If you don't work, you don't eat. You will earn tokens based on your quotas. The tokens can be exchanged for food, blankets, clothes and other necessities. You will not receive any of these items until you have earned enough tokens to buy them"

The captain of the guard who had brought the group to this facility, handed an official looking envelope to Claudio. The man opened it and read silently. He looked down at the group in front of him and finally his eyes fell on Theta. "You are the one called Theta." It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah..."

Claudio waved the letter he had been handed in the air "This is an order from the Protectorate. It says that if your woman," he glared at Rose for a moment before continuing "is not pregnant in 2 lunar cycles I am to give her to my guards."

The group stood in front of the dais in stunned silence.

Claudio waved a hand at a man who stood to his right on the stage. "This is my Sergeant of arms, Dace. He will lead you to your quarters." With that Claudio disappeared.

Dace, who was physically about the size of Jack, climbed down off the stage and surveyed the strange group in front of him. He had greasy brown hair that hung to his shoulders, he was missing several teeth, and smelled as if he hadn't taken a shower in weeks.

He walked down the line of prisoners stopping in front of Jack. He punched Jack in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"Hey! What'd ya do that for!" Theta asked angrily and received a crack in the back that sent him to his knees.

Finally, Dace came to Rose. "Yellow hair and brown eyes, we do not see this much in the mines. I will make you mine!" He whispered in Rose's face with putrid breath. She made a face and turned her head away.

"No you won't buddy!" Theta said, still kneeling on the floor "She is mine!"

Dace nodded slightly at one of his guards and Theta was hit once more by a painful burst from a weapon.

Dace glared down at Theta until his eyes were again able to focus on him. Then he grabbed Rose's chin with his left hand and licked her face from her chin up to her eyebrows. She tried to pull away from him and when she could not stifle a "Yuck!" Dace slapped her across the face.

"Hey!" Theta shouted

"No! Doctor, its ok." She said, not wanting him to receive another vitriolic blast on her account.

Dace was tiring of his game and waved a dismissive hand at one of his guards. "Take them to their quarters." He said and stomped away.


	12. Chapter 12

-1

The guard them down another rock hewn passageway about 300 yards. At that point the passageway forked out in 3 different directions. The guard led them through the passage that was the farthest to the left. After another 50 yards the group began to pass cubicles carved out of the rock. A few women began appearing from the cubicles and eyed the men of the group with lust. Some of the more wanton women approached the group and began touching the men. From all around them they heard comments like "That one is mine!" "Oh, he's big!" "I want that one!" "Hey! I love you"

All of them felt very uneasy as the guard led them down yet another passage that branched off the one they had been on. No women came out and there were no more comments made to the group.

Finally the guard stopped in front of a cubicle. "These are your quarters." He stated. "You will not get any food, blankets, medical supplies or anything else until you have earned the tokens to buy them"

At that point he began unlocking the chains that held them and indicated that they should enter their new quarters.

The opening to the cubicle was about five feet wide and there was no door, no bars, no barrier of any kind. The chamber was about 15 feet square, lit by two torches on either side of the room that cast eerie shadows about the compartment. In the center of the room was a pit that still contained a cook pot hanging from a metal tripod. In the right corner of the compartment a 3 foot square area was separated from the main living area with a wooden screen. In the far corner, Aaron was sitting there, staring into space.

"Aaron?" Theta asked. She woke up from her daydream and smiled

"Took ya long enough."

"Cute, I have some questions that need to be answered." he said.

"Alright."

"One, were the bloody hell are we?"

"One of many slave mines, didn't they tell us that already?"

"I think, but I don't remember. Two, who's your husband and why did Paolo call you 'my lady'?"

Aaron sighed, "When I was twelve, Snake managed to capture me. He turned me into his 'mate' or whatever and he put me to work. He told all of his men that if they tuched me, they would die."

"Oh my god, did he rape you?" Rose asked, jumping into the conversation.

Aaron snickered, "He wishes. Anyways, I managed to get away and I filled for divorce."

"How did you escape? There are force fields everywhere!" Jack exclaimed.

"Back then, they didn't have them. The first time I tried, I murdered three guards, that's how I lost my arm. The second I took out ten guards and got away, with a few others that managed to escape."

"Alright, now that that's settled, might as well get used to this place," Theta joked.

Jack indicated the screen and said to Luce " I assume that is the, uh"

"Toilet area." Luce supplied.

"Ah"

There were four wooden pallets, each about 3 feet off the floor and attached to the walls with chains, but no blankets or bedding of any kind. A wooden bucket sat in one corner of the room.

"We will need water." Luce indicated the bucket. "I will show you were to get it."

Jack nodded, and picked up the bucket and the entire group followed Luce out of their 'cell.'

Luce led them farther and deeper into the mine until they began to hear running water. They soon came to an underground spring where Luce said that everyone got their drinking water. He then led them to another area where a community bath was hewn into the stone. There were four baths, each about 10 feet square and 3 feet deep. "They only change the water once a week," Luce seemed apologetic "but it is better than no baths."

"Ok, this is great, Luce, but how do we get out of here?" Jack's irritation was clearly showing in his voice.

Luce looked at him with confusion in his eyes as he said gently "There is no way out"

"Oh, there's always a way out." Jack said. "We just have to find it"

"Here is not the place to discuss this." Luce said with fear in his voice.

Just then a loud bell rang through out the mines, clanging 3 times, pausing and clanging 3 more times.

"What does that mean?" Asked Rose.

"All of the workers are being summoned to the great hall. We must go at once"

They were among the last to arrive in the great hall.

One of the worker/slaves was kneeling on the stage before Claudio as the Supreme Ruler addressed the group gathered in the hall. "This man was caught stealing!" He indicated the man kneeling before him. "You have been summoned to witness his punishment."

Claudio nodded slightly at Dace who stepped up to the kneeling man. Dace, smiling a wicked, toothless grin, took the man's left hand and placed it on a large block of wood, then he pulled out a huge, thick sword and with one swift movement sliced off the man's hand. The man screamed in pain, blood spurting everywhere.

"He'll bleed to death!" Rose shouted to Jack over the noise in the room.

"Not our problem, Rose" Theta said with a warning tone in his voice.

Although Rose wanted to do something, anything, she knew he was right. They hung to the back of the room, said nothing and watched in amazement.

Claudio again addressed the workers assembled in the Great Hall. "For anyone breaking the rules the punishment is swift. Now back to work!" He barked.

The group of workers mumbled softly as they shuffled out of the hall and back to their work stations and Luce led them back to their compartment.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Once back in their cell, Luce explained that the next day a guard would come for them and take them to their assigned areas to work. They would work a 14-hour day and then be given tokens for the day's work. They could then go to concession area and purchase food and other necessities. They could go to the bathing areas, cook their own meals in their cell, and relax before the next day's labor.

"Well, that's slightly better than some of the other times we've been slaves." Theta tried to make a joke, but no one laughed so he continued. "If we are allowed to roam around to go to the spring for water, the public baths, the concession areas, then maybe we can wander around and maybe find a way to escape."

"You must be very cautious." Luce warned. "The best time would be early in the morning before the other workers wake up."

"How are the prisoners awakened each day?" The question came from Rose.

"A rapid ringing of the bell that lasts for several seconds, or that's what happened the last time I was a slave." Aaron said and Luce nodded in agreement.

" I would suggest that we wait a day or two until we understand the worker's and guard's schedules before we attempt to find an exit." Jack said and they all nodded.

"Judging from what we have seen so far, we could easily end up dead, or much worse. If we are caught wandering around unauthorized areas. I think Jack is right, we need to proceed with caution."

"Doctor, didn't the Protectorate say that the Scorpions send a cargo ship every third lunar cycle?"

"Yep."

"Ok, so, um, one of the first things we need to find out is when the next cargo ship is expected and once we know that we can begin fine tuning the plan." Aaron added.

"Luce, how long is a lunar cycle on this planet?" Theta asked.

"28 days"

"Well, we have to be out of here in under 56 days then." Theta said, looking meaningfully around the group.

Luce looked confused and asked Theta "Why must you be free in less than 56 days?"

"Luce" Rose said, "We have to be out of here in less than 56 days because I will not be pregnant."

"And I won't let that slime ball Dace touch her!" Theta added and then realized that his own personal feelings for Rose were showing. He decided he didn't care. He had to make the 'amator' thing believable didn't he?

"But, how can you be so positive that you will not be pregnant in 2 lunar cycles?" Luce asked Rose and she blushed. She wanted kids with the Doctor, but not forcibly.

Aaron and Jack were getting uncomfortable with this line of questioning and both got up and moved around the compartment, checking out their new '_home_'.

Rose looked at Theta for help but he shrugged his shoulders and looked down uncomfortably at the floor. She also understood the importance of keeping up the 'amator' charade.

"Well, for one thing, the Doctor, um...the Doctor and I are ...ah, ...well, in our society, making love is something that we are not ...ah, that is, um, it's very private between two people."

"We can ensure that you have privacy." Luce offered earnestly.

"Well, even if we have privacy, I still can't get pregnant."

"Why not?"

Thankfully, the conversation was interrupted by a young woman and her mother who appeared in the doorway. "I heard we had new dwellers and we came to welcome you to our neighborhood." The young woman said. Then she added, "My name is Kareen and this is my mother Rican." The young woman appeared to be about 17 and her mother, Rose thought, looked to be about 40, but she suspected she was probably only about 35 or 36.

"Rica, is that you?" Aaron asked from on one of the 'beds'. Rica looked at her confused. Aaron sighed, "How come no one recognizes me?"

"Air?"

Aaron smiled, "The one and only!" She smiled and they started chatting away like old friends. Jack cleared his throat to get their attention. The two girls stopped and glared at him, but they soon went back to talking.

"So, who's that hunk of man over there?"

"Who? Jack?"

Rican nodded. "Is he yours?"

Aaron blushed and whispered, "I wish." She sighed, "So what's up?"

"Oh, right. I know that you will not receive any tokens until tomorrow so I brought you some fire chondrite for your fire pit and some rice. I know it is not much, but it will sustain you until tomorrow."

She handed the gifts to Rose, assuming that as the woman of the group and the oldest, she would be the one to handle all the domestic chores.

She thanked her and placed the fire rocks in the pit in the center of the room and the dry rice in the pot that hung over it. She then looked at Aaron as if to say '_what do I do now?'_

Aaron took one of the torches down from the wall and put it to the small stone shards in the fire pit. The stones instantly flamed up like charcoal briquettes that had been soaked with lighter fluid. Next, she carefully poured an amount of water into the pot with the rice and began stirring it with a stick.

Rican, the mother, turned back to look at Rose and said, "Which of these men is your amator?"

Theta saw the confusion in Rose's face and quickly took a step forward. "That would be me. I'm the Doctor."

Her face broke out in a big smile "It is nice to meet you Doctor." She said.

Rican turned back to Rose. "He is very handsome. You are very fortunate indeed."

Roselooked positively uncomfortable as she gave Rican a watery smile.

"It is getting late. If you need anything else, my daughter, sons and I are right across the passageway."

"We will see you in the morning." Kareen said and the two left the compartment.

"Well, that was too weird." Jack said. "Now I guess I know how you feel, Doc."

Suddenly two strong, young men appeared in the doorway to the compartment.

"I am sorry to have startled you." the one began, "but our mother, Rican, asked us to bring these items to you." He held out four blankets with 5 ceramic mugs balancing on top of them. His brother held out 5 ceramic bowls, some spoons and a wooden bucket.

Rican suddenly re-appeared behind her sons "I noticed you had only one bucket." She began, "you will require a second bucket for washing. I am sorry I do not have pillows for you. The blankets are old, but they will serve you well. You may keep them, as I do not need them. You may also keep the bowls and mugs. Kareen makes them." She said proudly.

"Thank you very much, Rican." Rose said, truly impressed with the woman's generosity.

Rican looked at her again and said, "I am so sorry, I asked your amator's name, but what is your name?"

"You can call me Rose." She said smiling at the woman.

"Rose." Rican tried out the word. "I like it!" She declared. "Rose, do you know where you would like to work in the complex?"

Rose looked confused. "What do you mean? I thought we all just work in the mines."

"I wish," Aaron said. "But the women have to do other jobs like sewing, laundry, pottery, yada yada. You can work in the laundry with me, it is pretty simple."

Rose mouthed a 'thank you.'

"So," Aaron said, addressing Rican's sons "How often do the Scorpions send a cargo ship to collect what you have mined?" She already knew the answer, but figured it was a way to find out when they were next expected.

The question took the young men off guard. "Ah, every third lunar cycle." One of them replied as if she were a complete moron.

She nodded and continued "How long until they come for their next ...collection?"

The young men eyed him suspiciously but one of them finally replied, "We had a collection 22 days ago."

Jack picked up on the uneasy feeling this line of questioning was receiving and decided he needed to lighten the mood. He stepped up to her and put his arm around her shoulder as if they were an old married couple. Aaron struggled to retain a blush. "So, Rican, once we get settled in and have earned some...ah..tokens, can we have your family over for dinner, to, ah, repay you for your hospitality?"

Rican smiled a warm, friendly smile at Jack and said, "That certainly is not necessary, Jack, but we would be pleased to dine with you."

"That's great!" Jack replied.

"Well, we will leave you so you may get settled in and rest." She smiled at Jack again, and indicated to her sons that they should leave.

"Goodnight and thank you again!" Rose said.

"You are most welcome."

After Rican's family left, the group ate the rice she had provided, washed the dishes and placed them on a high shelf carved out of the rock wall.

"It will get cold in the caves at night" Luce explained "so, we will have to keep the fire burning all night."

"Since I don't really sleep, I'll stay up and watch it." Theta said.

"I'll stay up with you." Rose said. Theta looked at her a little worried, but agreed.

Everyone sat in silence staring into the fire for a time when Luce finally spoke. "There is a privacy curtain above the opening to our compartment, that may be rolled down while we sleep. I will show you."

Luce stood, walked to the doorway and rolled down a green canvas curtain. He turned and looked at the group "Theta and Rose should take that pallet." he indicated the pallet on the left side of the compartment "It is the largest. I will take that pallet." Luce indicated the pallet on the right wall near the screened off toilet area.

"Jack and I will take these." Aaron indicated the bunks that she and Jack were sitting on that were located across the back wall of the compartment. The bunks were nothing more than a heavy wood slab attached to the cavern wall with chains on each end. '_At least_,' thought Jack, '_they **are** up off the floor'._

The group looked around at each other uneasily. Finally Aaron spoke. "Well, I'm heading in for the night. Night!"

"Night." They all mumbled and did the same. Rose scooted closer to Theta and put her head on his shoulder. "Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

"What did Aaron mean about you regenerating?"

Theta sighed, "Well, when I time lord dies, we don't actually die, only our body does. We just get a new body. It's like having a second chance at life."

"Ohh." She was silent for a moment. "Doctor?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you think Jack likes Aaron and Aaron likes Jack?"

Theta chuckled, "Who knows Rose, who knows."

* * *

**so what do you think?please tell me! oh, im going on vacation for this month. but as soon as i get back, i'll promise to post three chapters! **


	14. Chapter 14

**i know i promised you three chapters...but i was only able to right two..but there is more on the way!hope you like 'em!

* * *

****Chapter 14**

Aaron woke up with a start and looked around the room and then looked at her watch. She was lucky, this planets hours were the same as earth's. Her watch told her it was one o'clock. Sighing, she hauled her self of the bed and made her way over to the fire. She smiled at the site she saw. Rose was snuggled against Theta, who's arm were wrapped around her, and surprisingly, they were both asleep.

"Theta, Theta wake up." She whispered and nudged his shoulder a little. "Theta."

"Huh, what?"

"Go to bed, I'll watch the fire."

By now, Theta was fully awake and aware that Rose was sound asleep on his shoulder, "You sure?"

"Yea, go to bed."

Theta hauled himself up off the floor and gently picked Rose up. She stirred a little but didn't wake. He walked over to where he and Rose were going to sleep. He gently put her down and went back over to Aaron. "You going to be ok?"

She smiled, "Yea." He smiled and went back over to Rose.

She was laying on her side, her face to the wall and her back to him. He took off his jacket and folded it into a pillow and put it on the bunk. Then he crawled into the rack with Rose. The bed was small so he spooned up against her back and put his right arm around her waist. He was aware that Aaron had watched him and he wondered what the girl was thinking. He decided it wasn't worth worrying about and soon drifted off to sleep.

Aaron sighed and leaned against the compartment wall. 'This is bad, now I have brought them into the fight.'

"What are you doing awake?" Jack asked and stood beside her. She looked at him and shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep I guess." She said and stared out into space again. "You shouldn't have saved me Jack."

He looked at her confused. "What?"

"Back in Paris, you shouldn't have saved me, you should have let me die."

Jack forced her to look at him, "Aaron, don't say that!"

"Jack, your all in this fight now. Anyone I've meant is now Snake's enemy. I don't want to lose my family."

"How hard can Snake be? He's only human."

"You don't understand Jack!" She said a little too loudly. "He's not human! He's a demon! He is an emotionless being! He will stop at nothing to hurt me in any way!" She said as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Aaron," he said and pulled her into a hug. "Your not going to lose us, don't worry. I promise you that." She sniffed, but smiled.

"Come on, lets go to bed." He said and she stifled a yawn.

"I'm not tired," She said, but ended up yawing.

"Sure your not." He said and led her to her bed. She laid down and quickly fell asleep. Jack smiled and kissed her on the forehead, " 'Night."

* * *

A loud continuous ringing of a bell made all of the group jerk awake. Luce quickly rose and rolled up the privacy curtain. Although no one had asked him he announced "It is forbidden to have the curtain down except during sleeping hours." All of them nodded in understanding. 

Within five minutes a guard appeared at their quarters. He looked at Rose. "What talents do you possess? Where do you want to work?"

"Ah..." She stammered.

"She with me Ajax." Aaron said.

The guard nodded then addressed the men. "The rest of you will come with me."

"Wait!" It was Rican, the neighbor from across the passageway. "Here." She said as she pressed a loaf of bread into Theta's hands. "It is not much, but it will have to sustain you until your evening meal."

"Thank you," He said.

The guard looked at Rose and Aaron. "Wait here until I return." They nodded and he led the men away.

"Rose, I forgot to tell you yesterday, that the women are allowed to use the public baths during the day and the men during the night. Also, the women fix meals at midday for their men and the men are allowed to come home for lunch, which to tell you the truth, I hate." Aaron said. Rican nodded in agreement.

"I just hope the bread will last."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

After waiting twenty minutes, the guard came back for Rose and Aaron. He directed them down another set of passageways that opened up to a laundry area.

A large women came over to them. "What are your names?" She demanded.

"I'm Aaron, this is Rose."

"I am in charge of the laundry. You may call me Dava. Let me explain to you what to do. Each compartment in the complex sends their laundry on a specific day of the week. The laundry is sent in a canvas bag with the owner's name on it. You will dump the laundry and the canvas bag into one of the soapy pools and stir it with this" She held up what looked like an ore.

"Then you will take the clothes and put them in the rinse pool. When the items are rinsed, you fish them out with the stick and put them through the dryer. When they are dry, but them into these baskets," she pointed to some baskets beside her. "You then take them outside and hang them up on the clothes line. Be sure to put the bag were each family's clothing begins. When all the cloth's have been washed, we dumped the water tubs out and refill them for the next day. You then may go home and make lunch for your family. After lunch, you come back and take the clothes you have washed off the line and fold them and put them back in the family's bag. And place them in that area for the family's to pick up." She pointed to a small area and the far side of the laundry area.

"Any questions?"

"No." They both said.

"Good." she said and gave ore's to them. "get to wok!"

There were about ten women in the laundry area. Aaron and Rose went to work and tried to carry on conversations with some of the workers. By the end of the day, with Aaron's help, Rose knew were everything was. They also found out that the controls for the force field were in Snake's quarters.

At the end of the day while they were dumping the tubs, Aaron spoke to Rose, "The cool thing about this job is that we get to take showers here before we refill the tubs. We don't have to clean ourselves in the dirty water in the public baths."

Rose was quite happy to take a shower since she hadn't had one since they left the TARDIS. Surprisingly, the water was lukewarm, unlike she thought. Finally, she and Aaron were paid for today's work, three tokens, and were sent 'home'.

Aaron sighed, "At least I got more thenI did whenI worked in the mines."

"You worked in the mines?"

"I did, after I was taken as a 'mate' I managed to convince Paolo to get me a job in the mines. You know, he's a nice man once you get to know him. He's really a teddy bear, unless he's following orders from Snake. He's actually saved my ass a couple of times."

"Really?" Rose asked as they turned the corner to their 'home.'

"Yep! And thanks to him, I got these beautiful prosthetics."

"Maybe we can use him?"

"What?"

"Well, if he helps you a lot, we can use him to get to Snake and escape!" Rose explained.

"You are one smart women!" Aaron said and they laughed.

After waiting a half an hour, Luce, Theta, and Jack finally arrived returned. "Finally!" Aaron exclaimed. "So how much did you make?"

"We all managed to get seven tokens each. What about you?" Jack asked.

"We managed to get three, but that's better then what I used to get." Aaron said and collected their tokens.

"What did you usually get?"

"One token a day, and I worked in the mines!" Aaron sighed in frustration. "Anyways, I'm going to take Rose shopping while you three go find the baths." They nodded.

On the way to the 'shops', Rose counted the tokens, "So, is 27 tokens good for a day's work?"

"Well, since we only arrived, it is very good, but we should get more later."

Soon the two women arrived at an area where vendors had set up booths selling their various wares. "Our first stop must be at the food stand."

Aaron led Rose to the largest of the booths where fresh food was laid out on tables. It reminded Rose of a Farmer's Market. "Where does all this come from?" She asked.

"There are farms a distance from the mines. They send meat and produce to the mines everyday."

Aaron had brought a small wicker basket that she barrowed from Rican in which to put their purchases. She walked up to the vendor with authority. "We need 1 pound of the cubed meat, 5 potatoes, 5 carrots, 2 onions, 5 pounds of rice and 2 loaves of bread."

Rose just stared at her friend as she rattled off the list of items. 'Well she has been here before,' she thought. The man behind the table nodded, wrapped the meat in paper, pulled out a cloth bag of rice and counted out the carrots, potatoes and one onion. "That will be 9 tokens."

Rose handed the tokens as Aaron put the items in the basket. "Hmmm, next we'll need a knife…" She said.

"They allow the slaves to own knives?" Rose asked incredulously.

"Were you present yesterday for the punishment?" Aaron asked.

"Yes…" Rose said warily.

"Then you should know that the punishment for using a knife as a weapon is death."

Rose swallowed hard. She had considered carrying the knife around as protection from Dace.

Aaron picked out a small knife with a serrated edge and Rose handed over 5 tokens.

"What else do we need?" Aaron asked herself and tapped her head. "Oh yea! We need some fire chondrite!" She said and made her way over to another booth.

"How long were you in this slavery thing? It seems like you know everything!" Rose exclaimed.

"I was in here for two years, and then I managed to escape because of an earthquake, just got lucky I guess." Rose nodded in understanding, not wanting to bring up bad memories.

Aaron stopped at a booth and spoke to the man, "We need a 10 pound bag of fire chondrite." She stated to the clerk who hefted the bag on to the table.Rose handed over 7 tokens and Aaron drug her off to the booth where blankets, towels and pillows were sold.

"How many tokens to we have left?"

"Six."

"Then we can only buy one towel, it four tokens. We will also need a bar of soap, that's two tokens."

With all the tokens spent, they went back to their compartment. They then started the task of making a stew with the ingredients they got. By the time the men returned from the baths, the stew was actually beginning to smell quite good. They and their adopted member, Luce, ate their stew, Aaron told them about the outdoor area in the laundry and force field.

"Since the controls are in Snake's quarters, I could pretend that I am finally giving up and….."

Jack cut her off, "No Aaron! Don't even think about it! You wouldn't come out of there alive."

She knew he was right and felt completely frustrated and useless with the restraints and expectations that were put on her as a woman in this society. She hated it when she was twelve, she hates it now.

"Ok, I'll warn you now, use of a knife as a weapon here is an offense that is punishable by death."

"Well that's good to know. I wish I had my sonic screwdriver, then we can get out of here." Theta said. Aaron nodded. Their meeting was interrupted by a tall man entering their compartment.

"My lady," it was Paolo, "My lord wishes to see you."

Aaron rolled her eyes, "Fantastic." She said and got up. Before she walked away, Jack grabbed her wrist.

"Be careful." She nodded and left.

* * *

**so what do you think? should i continue? please tell me!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Jack sighed and started pacing. It had been two days since Aaron went to see Snake. He was getting worried.

"Jack will you stop that!" Theta said. Jack grunted, but sat down on his bed.

"I'm worried about her Doc. She's been gone two days."

Theta put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "I know Jack, we all are." Silence followed as they prayed to see Aaron alive.

"Are you the one called Jack?" Jack head shot up and scanned the room for the source of the voice. When his eyes finally found the source, his eyes widened.

"I got her here as fast as I could." Paolo stood at the entrance of their home. He was carefully cradling Aaron in his powerful arms, and she was looking very much the worse for wear. She wasn't awake, but there was a definite look of intenseness in her features that told Jack immediately that she was hurting. Her face was bloody and scratched, and she was dirty and mussed. God only knew what else was wrong with her, or she'd never had allowed him to just pick her up and carry her.

"Hurry set her on the bed." Jack said and guided him to one of the beds and Paolo gently set her down. She groaned and opened her eyes.

"Ja... Jack?"

"Yes, I'm here."

" 'Onic."

"What?"

"Sonic screwdriver." she said and opened her hand to revel the sonic screwdriver.

"Aaron you a genius!" Jack said and kissed her on the forehead. After what seemed like an eternity, Jack managed to heal most of her wounds.

"Thanks Paolo," Jack said. Paolo nodded and left them to be. Theta went to his and Rose's bed to leave the couple alone.

"How ya feeling?" Jack asked and sat down beside the bed. He grabbed her hand and absent mindedly stroked it.

"I'm scared Jack. This is the worst Snake has done to me. If it wasn't for Paolo…" She didn't continue, but Jack understood. Seeing her beautiful brown eyes fill with tears, he couldn't help himself. He pulled her against his chest and dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Shhh... I've got you." He could feel her shaking and stroked her hair and back trying to calm her down, rocking her like a baby.

When her sobs quieted down a little she lifted her head and gave him a smile. "Thanks."

Jack smiled and let go of her. She laid back down on the bed and yawned. Jack laughed.

"Get some sleep," but he was too late, she was already fast asleep. He smiled and moved a stray hair out of her face. "Don't worry, I will protect you, even if I die in the process."

* * *

**Wow…is Jack having feelings for Aaron? Will he come out and say it? Will they ever go free? **


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The next day, after telling Rose for the millionth time she was alright, Aaron was able to stand, but still was very weak from her last battle.

"But Theta, we still have to figure out a way to get out of here!"

"Yes, but your still weak, even flyboy here agrees. You need your rest, Paolo will stay here and look after you."

"Alright," Aaron mumbled and laid back down on her bed. This was not her day. When they all left, she went up to Paolo.

"Paolo?"

"Yes my lady?"

"Can you please get me out of here?"

"I can not do that. I promised you brother that I would not let you out."

"Pleeeaasssee!" She begged like a three-year-old.

"Go back to bed."

"Yes dad," she grumbled and went back to her bed.

* * *

While returning to there cell at the end of the day, Jack stopped in his tracks, "Doc," he said, with an urgency in his voice. 

The rest of the group stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"Do you feel that?" He asked.

"What, flyboy?" Theta sounded annoyed.

"A breeze"

"Yeah, so"

"Doc, there can only be a breeze in here if there is another opening to the cave somewhere"

"Shh! You mustn't speak of this here!" Luce warned. "We must return to our compartment"

Once back at their cell, they decided to come up with a plan to find this 'breeze'. "When is the best time to look around?" Jack asked.

"You must be very cautious." Luce warned. "The best time would be early in the morning before the other workers wake up. I thought I explained this once."

Jack shrugged. "We still need to figure out the guards' schedules."

"You don't need to." Aaron said from her bed. "I managed to get the guards' schedule from Paolo. Had to do something while stuck in here."

"Fantastic sis!"

"Good. We'll start in the morning. Aaron, when's the best time?" Jack asked.

"Three o'clock. It should give us enough time to snoop around."

"Alright, now I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm exhausted, night." Jack said and went to bed.

"I'll stay up." Aaron said and sat down in front of the fire. The others nodded a thanks and went to bed. Aaron sighed and made herself comfortable.

_'This is going to be a long night.'_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

It was two-thirty and Aaron was still standing watch. Luce was now up and sitting across from her.

"Will you teach me how to stand watch?"

"Sure, I will."

Luce stared into the fire for a time before speaking. "Life here in the mines is not that bad. Why is it so important for you and your friends to escape?"

Aaron looked at the innocent young man and stated "I know, but where we are from we are free. We do not serve false gods and our people do not enslave us."

Luce nodded slowly. "I have never known what it is like to be free." He said softly.

"Neither did I, until I met Paolo."

"Paolo freed you?" Luce asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"I freed myself, with his help. It is not easy, but you can do it as well."

"Will you take me with you when you escape this place?" Luce pleaded.

Aaron smiled, "Yea."

The two sat in silence for a time. "Why does Rose call Theta 'Doctor'?"

"I don't know. I think it is because she is afraid to call him that."

"Why?"

"Because she loves him, and he loves her, but it is difficult because they are not from the same race."

Luce sat in silence trying to understand all that Aaron had told him.

Finally she spoke again "It is time to awaken the others so that we may begin our search for a way to escape."

Aaron walked over to the sleeping forms of Theta and Rose. "Theta." He whispered. "Theta wake up."

"Aaron? What is it?" Theta rolled over and tried to get his eyes to focus on the teen standing over him.

"It is time to begin our search for an escape route"

"Oh, yeah, ok. Rose!" He touched her shoulder "Rose, wake up"

"Uh,...Doctor?"

"Time to get up." Theta rolled out of the bed and put on his shoes.

Jack was standing near the fire rubbing his eyes.

"What I wouldn't give for a hyper vodka right now!" he groused.

"Shut up."

"Considering what we have seen of the geography of the caves, I think we should begin our search near the underground springs where we get our drinking water." Aaron said as she picked up two torches. She also instructed for Luce to bring their water bucket just in case.

"Alright, lets head out then." Theta moved to the doorway and looked out from behind the curtain to see if anyone was in the passageway. He gave hand signals to indicate the passage was clear and they slipped out from behind the curtains. Luce grabbed the water bucket and followed the group.

When they reached the spring, the group fanned out exploring all the rocky out-cropping and low lying areas. They looked over head, and followed every ridge and valley they could find in the area.

The spring bubbled up into a large, natural pool with what appeared to be a solid rock wall behind it. As Aaron was examining the rock wall that was about 10 yards behind the pool, she found a narrow, natural passageway that ascended at a steep angle. She held her torch up for more visibility and carefully began to climb up the dark, narrow space. About 20 yards up the passage, the rock seemed to split and the passage grew narrower and continued at sharp angle to the left. The overhead was now just a few feet high and she had to bend over to continue climbing up the passageway. Suddenly she saw a faint sliver of grey light shining through the end of the passage.

She put her torch down and crawled on all fours to examine where the light was coming from. There was a small crack in the rock about two inches wide and 18 inches high. She put her eye up to the crack and peered out. Trees! Lush green foliage and trees! This had to be the back side of the rock formation they saw as they entered the cave. The village and Scorpions were on the other side of the cave. They could hide out in the woods, if they could tunnel out of there.

Excitedly, she grabbed her torch and worked her way down out of the tight cavern. "Bro!" She said in an urgent whisper "I found it! Only problem is, we are going to have to dig our way out."

"Show me." Theta said and she led him back up the narrow, sloping rock channel. After he examined the crack in the rock wall they returned to where their friends waited by the spring.

"Ok, let's get back to our compartment. We'll figure it out there." Jack said.

Luce filled the bucket with fresh water and the group quietly eased their way back to their compartment.

"Alright, we will need some sort of chisel to get out." Theta said when they were back safely in their cell.

"Helloooo! Did I risk my life for nothing?" Aaron exclaimed and everyone stared at her. She rolled her eyes. "The sonic screwdriver, remember?"

"Oh yea. Sorry." Theta said and she grunted. 'Sorry my butt.'

"Alright, but we are going to need more tools then that. Aaron, can you pull this off some how?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir!" She said and gave him a mock salute.

"Er, but Jack, we can't take tools out of the mine and I suspect the punishment is severe for just having tools." Rose stated.

"I know! I know!" He said in frustration. "What I wouldn't give for some explosives!"

"Wait, perhaps there is something we could get from the cutlery vendor that we could modify for our use. Also, in the laundry we use very heavy wooden oars which could be used as handles for the tools. I'm sure I would have no problem stealing an oar."

"Uh, Rose, did you forget what happened to that guy who got caught stealing when we first arrived here?" Theta asked.

"Oh, yeah." She replied dejectedly.

"Ok, ok, lets not give up so easily. We have found the way out, now we just have to build the tools to get us out of here." Jack began.

"Aaron, they seem to sell all kinds of stuff in the concession area so you will just have to buy whatever you can that we can modify for our use." Theta said.

"Ah, first she needs to buy us all some new socks and underwear!" Jack grimaced. "We've been wearing this stuff for 5 days now and I want some clean underwear!"

The conversation was interrupted by the rapid ringing of the bell that indicated it was time for everyone to arise.

Luce rolled up the privacy curtain, they all ate some bread and then headed off to work.

At the end of the day Jack and Luce had each earned eight tokens, and Theta earned ten. There was no quota for the laundry, Aaron's and Rose's salary was always just three tokens.

As the men headed off for the public baths, Aaron took their 32 tokens and went across the hall to see if Rican wanted to go shopping with her, since Rose did not want to go.

When Aaron called into her neighbor's compartment Kareen came forward. "It is my mother's turn to work in the concession area tonight, however, I will be glad to accompany you there."

Kareen grabbed the wicker basket and the two women started out toward the concession area.

When they arrived, it was a little more busy then usual.

"Do you have coffee?" Aaron asked the food vendor.

He looked confused. "What is coffee?"

"Well, it is a hard bean that we grind up and use to make a hot beverage." '_God, I sound just like a teacher_!' she thought.

"No, we do not have ground up beans, but we have leaves that we use to make hot drinks."

"Fine. I'll take some of those."

Again she purchased 1 pound of cubed meat, 5 potatoes, 1 onion and 5 apples instead of carrots. She thought they could have them for dessert. She got 2 loaves of a hearty multi-grain bread this time and paid eight tokens for her purchases.

Roseturned to Kareen. "Take me to your mother's booth." she said.

When they arrived at Rican's booth, she told her that she needed to purchase socks and underwear for the group. The boxer type shorts Rican showed her did not have elastic, but were held up by a drawstring. Rican chose the sizes for all three men and picked out some women's undergarments for Aaron and Rose. The socks also did not have elastic, as it was technology that these people did not possess. At this point she didn't care and told

Rican she needed five pairs. She paid 15 tokens for the items and then went to the soap seller.

The woman selling soap had various soaps, oils, candles and fragrances. Most of the soap was simple lye soap, but the woman's expensive line included a glycerin based soap that she thought smelled like lemons. It was 3 tokens for a small bar, but Aaron bought two anyway.

Again, her tokens spent, she and Kareen returned to their respective compartments.

After the evening meal, Aaron gave everyone their new underwear and informed them that in the morning she would need their t-shirts, old socks and underwear and their one towel so that she could wash them.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The next day as Rose was on her way back to the compartment to fix lunch forthe group whenshe ran headlong into Dace.

"Yellow hair!" Dace exclaimed as he saw her in the passageway.

"Please let me pass!" Rose said to him as he blocked her way.

"You are a fiery one Yellow Hair! How about giving me a sample now?"

"No, I don't think so." She said evenly, trying to maintain her composure.

"You do not understand. I get whatever I want and I am not used to waiting." He started to reach for her when she heard Theta's voice behind her.

"Not gonna happen Dae, old buddy!" he said as he walked up behind Rose, his chest brushing her back. He put his left arm completely across her chest and closed his fingers around her right shoulder. He purposely kept his right hand free, just in case.

Dace scowled and pushed past Rose and rest of the group. Once he was gone Rose let out a breath and her back visibly sagged into Theta's chest. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He said as he instantly let her go. "What's for lunch?" He asked casually as if nothing had happened. Though, in his hearts, he never wanted to let her go.

Later that afternoon, just after Rose had taken her shower in the laundry room and put on the underwear that she had washed that morning, one of the guards came to escort her to see Claudio, the Supreme Ruler of the mining complex.

When she arrived in the great hall Theta was already there standing in front of the dais staring up at a malicious looking Claudio. Standing next to Claudio, looking very smug, was Dace.

Once Rose was standing beside Theta, Claudio came down off the stage holding the cylindrical medical device they had seen him use on the man who had been punished for stealing. Claudio made a big show of sweeping the device back and forth in close proximity to Rose. He moved it up and down as if scanning her body and the tiny machine made whirring noises. Rose thought it looked like the medical scanner used on Star Trek.

"My suspicions have been confirmed, Rose. Your marriage to Theta has not been consummated. In fact, it has been a very long time since anyone has mated with you."

Rose felt her cheeks flush and she knew Theta was looking at her, but she could not look at him.

Claudio continued to speak while Dace stood on the stage and stared down at Rose with an evil, lustful look in his eyes. "The Protectorate was quite clear. You have just 51 days left to get pregnant, but if you are not even trying then I have no choice but to give you to Dace now. I am no fool, I realize that in all likelihood you will have to mate several times before you become pregnant." Claudio looked directly at Rose and continued "but if Theta is unwilling or unable to get you pregnant, Dace will."

"I would rather die than..." Rose began but Claudio put up his hand to silence her.

"You and Theta have 3 hours to mate. When you are brought back here I will use the medical scanner again and if you have not consummated your marriage, you will be given to Dace at that time." Claudio turned on his heel and walked away.

"I told you I'm not used to waiting." Dace said and then indicated to one of his guards that he should take Rose and Theta to their quarters.

When they arrived at their quarters the guard said "You may close your privacy curtain, but I will remain out here until your 3 hours are up."

"Did I mention how much I hate this place?" Rose yelled.

"I have a question." Theta tried to change the subject "how is it that Claudio could detect that you haven't had sex in..."

"Awhile." Rose supplied through clenched teeth, but shrugged her shoulders.

Theta stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Rose paced around like a caged animal. Finally she picked up the empty wooden bucket and slammed it against the wall repeatedly until it splintered and broke into several pieces.

"Feel better?" Theta asked.

"NO! Damn it! I've never felt so useless in my life!" She yelled at him. She felt tears of anger welling up in her eyes but she would not release them.

"Rose, your not useless. Dace just wants you." Anger was evident in his voice.

"Then how come I'm standing here doing nothing like a stupid ape!"

"Rose, its not like that and you know it!" Theta yelled, but he added softer, "Your not a stupid ape."

"Then how come were stuck here and we are forced into having sex?"

"I don't know!" he yelled at her. "But talk about performance anxiety, if I can't...get it up you're dead anyway! How would you like to have that pressure on you?"

She stood and looked at him, her mouth hanging open. "I never thought of that." she said.

Suddenly they heard muffled voices in the hall. Rose and Theta looked at each other as if to say '_what the hell is going on out there_?' They did not have to wait long for Rican to appear, peeking through the privacy curtain.

"May I come in?" she said as she entered the compartment, not waiting for a reply. "I heard the shouting and surmised what was happening here. You haven't consummated your marriage yet have you?"

"Well, um its not that simple, Rican."

"Oh, I know how hard it can be to be romantic here in the complex , what with so little privacy and all. I gave the guard a chair and asked him to move away from your door." She stated in a matter of fact manner.

Then she began pulling items out of her wicker basket. "Here are some candles, and this wine I made myself. I thought it might help you feel more at home."

Theta sat down on the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands.

"Thank you.." Rose said mechanically.

"Oh, it's nothing." Rican said as she busied herself lighting candles. Then she poured the wine into two of the ceramic mugs. "Just drink this and you'll feel better." She smiled knowingly at Rose, but refused to leave until she had seen both of them drink. She went over to the wall and put out the torches that were above Jack and Aaron's beds. "It is always so much more romantic with the candle light." she said.

"Well, I'll be on my way now." and Rican slipped out of the room. Theta took another sip of the intoxicating beverage. Neither of them spoke as Rose took her mug, picked up the bottle of wine, walked over to the bed and sat down beside Theta. She poured some more of the sweet liquid into each of their cups and took another sip.

Theta turned his head to look at her. "Rose..." he said softly. She turned her head to look at him and found herself looking deep into his dark eyes. "Look, this isn't how I wanted this to happen. I always thought that someday we would kick bad guys asses and you and I could...finally be together. But not like this, ..." his voice trailed off.

"I know, Theta." she said softly.

Theta rubbed the back of his neck. "What was in that wine she gave us, my head feels...fuzzy."

"I don't know. I feel...funny. Kind of uninhibited I guess."

"Rose, I want you, more than you can possibly know, but I'm a Time Lord, and your only a human, it'll never work out." They sat on the bed, side by side, in silence. After a time, Rose leaned her head against Theta's shoulder and he put his arm around her.

Rose held her mug with both hands and looked into it, studying the liquid it held, before she drained the contents. She handed Theta the empty cup, leaned over, untied her shoes and took them off. Then Rose took the cups from Theta's hands and set them both on Jacks rack while Theta took off his shoes.

After he had taken off his shoes, Theta sat on the edge of the bed watching her, thinking how sexy she was and how badly he wanted her. Normally he tried to repress those thoughts and when the automatic repression kicked in he had to work hard at turning it off.

She stood there looking down at him for a time before taking off her shirt and pulling her t-shirt over her head.

Theta's mouth went dry. She was wearing a black bra and the contrast between it and her skin was sexy. '_God, she's sexy!_' he thought. _'Were drunk.'_

Rose walked over and took both of his hands in hers and pulled him to his feet. She helped him out of his shirt and then pulled his t-shirt over his head. She knew that, even though her life depended on Theta making love to her, he wouldn't do it unless she told him it was alright. She figured that actions spoke louder than words.

Theta pulled her into an embrace, the skin to skin contact more intoxicating than the wine. As Theta placed light kisses on Rose's neck she said "We are **_SO_** drunk."

"Shh." He whispered in her ear. He just held her, rocking her gently, holding her tightly.Rose allowed a few tears to roll down her face as Theta put his hand on the back of her head.

After a time he pulled back, looked her in the eyes, put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. It began softly but soon deepened as their tongues began to gently explore the other. All the pent up emotions from the past year were poured into that one kiss. Rose clearly understood, without a word being spoken, that Theta was in love with her and she did her best to express that same feeling to him through her kiss.

Finally, they broke apart and Theta took her by the hand. "C'mere." he said as he led her toward the bed.

"I…I love you Rose."

Rose smiled, "Love you too, my Theta."

* * *

**Sorry it took my so long to update…stupid computer isn't working. **

**Please review!**

**p.s. chapter 20 will be up later today (computer still isn't working right) so stay tuned!**


	20. Chapter 20

**alright so i lied, but i hope this makes up for it!

* * *

**

**Chapter 20**

Rose and Theta again stood in front of Claudio who scanned Rose with his medical device.

"This is so degrading!" she said out loud before she even realized it.

"Silence slave!" Claudio shouted. Then he turned to Dace and said "You will have to wait a while longer before you can have her." Then to the guards he said "Take them back to their quarters."

Luce and the rest of the group were already in the compartment when Rose and Theta arrived.

"So, where have you two been?" Jack asked casually.

"Don't ask!" Rose snapped.

"Ok. Well, then what's for dinner?"

"Rice. Luce or Aaron can make it." she sat on the floor in the corner and buried her head in her hands.

Aaron, in understanding, silently got the bag of rice down off the shelf and poured some into the cook pot. "What happened to the water bucket?" She asked innocently when he noticed it broken into bits.

"Rose had a bad day. Just go ask Rican if she has an extra one." Theta said.

"What the hell is going on here, Doc?" Jack wanted to know.

Rose looked up, angry tears in her eyes, "We were forced to **_consummate_** our marriage." she snapped.

"Oh, uh, well, gee I'm sorry... I guess."

An uneasy silence settled about the compartment. Aaron returned with the water and a new bucket, cooked the rice and after dinner washed the dishes. Rose refused to eat and would not move from her place on the floor.

"I will stay up and watch the fire tonight." Luce offered.

Rose got up from where she was sitting and said softly, "No, that's alright Luce. I'll do it. You go to bed."

When everyone was settled in their racks Theta came over to talk to Rose, but before he could even sit down beside her in front of the fire she said "Doctor, I'm fine. You need to sleep."

"Rose….."

"Please, Theta," she pleaded "just let me be alone for awhile."

He put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Ok, but if you need me..."

"I'm fine." she said again.

"Don't forget to wake me up if you need anything." She nodded, but he knew she had no intention of waking him.

When the rest of the members of the group had fallen asleep, Aaron got out of her bed and came to sit by Rose on the floor.

"Rose, are you mad at Theta?"

"No. I'm angry with the situation."

"Theta believes that you are angry with him. If you continue to shut him out like this your relationship will die."

Rose looked at her for awhile before asking "What do you want me to do?" in a tone that came out more sarcastically than she intended.

"Theta cares very deeply for you. Everyone can see that. He is hurting too. Realize that and do not shut him out. This is not just about you. It is about both of you."

"I just feel so useless here."

"On the contrary, it is you who saved Jack and Theta from the over anxious females you have encountered here, you are the one who stood up to Dae. You will not give up Rose, I saw that."

Rose looked at Aaron, tears threatening to fall. "But, being forced to have sex with someone, even if you love them, is..." she suddenly realized that she just told Aaron that she was in love with Theta. Somehow, she figured this was not a news flash to her.

"Rose, I know you were forced to have sex, but, it was with the man you love."

"I,...ah,...suppose you're right."

"Then for your sake as well as his, do not shut him out. He is a victim as well. The two of you must work through this together."

"You're right Aaron. Thank you."

Aaron smiled and gave her friend a hug. "Good night, Rose."

Sam stared at the fire and thought about the things Aaron had said to her. She also pondered the hand held medical device Claudio used.

"Rose…." Theta said and sat down beside her The two sat shoulder to shoulder in silence for quite some time before Rose said "Doctor…"

"Rose, don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't tell me what a horrible experience this afternoon was for you."

"Some of it wasn't horrible."

"What are you saying, Rose?"

She smiled, keeping her eyes focused on the fire, "Well, for an old man with performance anxiety, you, well, made me ..." her voice trailed off. Then she turned her head to look him square in the eyes and with a grin said "Twice!"

He gave her his biggest '_I love you Rose_' smile.

They continued to sit in silence for a time before Rose said "I've been thinking about that medical device that Claudio had."

"I knew you were thinking about somethin'!"

She ignored his comment and continued "What was he looking for when he scanned me?"

Theta's eyes got wide with the realization "He was looking for sperm; semen!"

"Exactly. The first time he scanned me he didn't know we hadn't...made love, he was just guessing. We told him what he wanted to know!"

"That son of a..."

"But, Doctor, I think we can use his arrogance and his lack of knowledge against him. Arrogance and stupidity are a deadly combination."

"Ok, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, he knows we aren't from this planet, what if we tell him that our physiology is different from the people on this planet, that when a woman from our planet gets pregnant a protein marker appears in her blood. Even if he doesn't believe it, his mind will be thinking 'protein marker' and the device should make it show up!

"Rose, you're brilliant! That's why I married you."

She chuckled. "I thought their marriage laws weren't binding."

"Yeah, well, it certainly wasn't the most romantic wedding I've ever attended."

"The honeymoon left something to be desired too." Rose said with a smile

"Hey! Under the circumstances I thought I did quite well."

"Oh, the male ego!" She said as she rolled her eyes.

"So, how long do we have to wait until you tell Claudio you think you're pregnant and want to be scanned for the protein marker?"

"I don't know. He may buy the protein marker for awhile, but eventually he will want to scan me again. He may be stupid but he's not that stupid. I think we can fool him once but not twice. I would say we have to wait at least one of their lunar cycles."

Theta nodded as she continued, "If this works, once they believe I'm pregnant they will have to leave me alone. It would mean a lot to the Protectorate to get his hands on our child, so I'm willing to bet there's something in it for Claudio too."

"A promotion, a bonus, something like that?" Theta asked.

"Yeah, I think so." They sat in companionable silence for time before Theta said "Rose, you should get some sleep."

She nodded and pulled herself up off the floor. Before she walked away she said "Thank you, Doctor."

He looked up at her quizzically, "For what"

"For being there for me."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The next day, at the midday break Rose made a bold move. She went to ask Dava, her boss in the laundry, if she could bring her 'amator' to the laundry during the lunch break.

She explained that Dace wanted her and, although she hated to admit it, she was afraid to shower in the laundry without Theta there to protect her and she did not want to go to the public baths.

Dava studied Rose for a moment. "You have proven to be an exceptional worker. You do not complain, you do not ask for breaks and the quality of your work is very good. However, bringing one's amator to shower in the laundry is not usually permitted."

"Yes, ma'am." Rose was clearly disappointed as she started to walk away.

"Wait." The stout woman said. "It is not usually permitted, but you are a good worker and" she looked cautiously about to make sure they were alone "I too, despise Dace. As long as you do not get caught I will permit it. If you do get caught, then you must know that I will tell them that you did not have my permission."

"Thank you!" Rose said with a big smile and she hurried off to her compartment.

Because of the events of the previous day, there was nothing in the compartment for her to fix for lunch except for rice (Her and Aaron decided to take turns cooking and shopping). She poured some in the pot, added water and stirred it with the stick. About 20 minutes later the rest of the group returned for their midday meal.

After everyone had eaten their skimpy meal of rice, Rose took the one towel they owned and the soap and said to Theta "Doctor, would you come with me?"

"Uh, where are we going Rose?"

"I need to show you something in the laundry."

As they walked to the laundry Rose explained that the laundry vats were drained everyday before the midday break, and that they had permission from her boss to shower in the laundry room.

"A real shower?" Theta asked incredulously.

"Yea, close enough."

Theta sat on the floor with his back toward Rose, keeping an eye out for Dace as she took her lukewarm shower.

She dried off quickly, dressed and then announced "Your turn."

"You know, Rose, before we get out of here you and I are actually going to shower _together_!"

Rose blushed. "But we have to keep watch for Dace."

"Yeah, yeah..."

The water that came out of the aqueduct piping reminded Theta of the scene from "Singing in the Rain" where Gene Kelly stood under a gutter and rain water poured out on him. Theta didn't care. It felt great! And that soap Rose had found at the concession area wasn't bad either.

Rose stood by the doorway, keeping guard while Theta showered. She was getting worried because he was taking so long. Finally she stuck her head back in the laundry and hissed "Doctor, hurry up!"

Theta reached up and pushed the lever that closed the gate valve, causing the water to shut off. He dried himself with the same damp towel Rose had used and then got dressed.

"That was great, Rose!" he said as he came out of the laundry, running his fingers through his wet hair. "But when are you going to wash our clothes? Not that I don't appreciate having clean underwear everyday."

"I'll wash them when I have enough tokens to buy everyone another set of clothes."

"Ah." He paused briefly, "And speaking of shopping..."

"Yeah, I know! Rice is getting a little old, I have to replace the bucket I smashed yesterday."

"Ok, just checkin'"

When they returned from work that evening they handed Rose the 28 tokens they had earned that day, along with the 20 tokens from the day before.

Rose then went across the passageway to get Rican and the two women headed to the concession area.

At the food vendor's standRose purchased the usual stew ingredients, another 5 pound bag of rice, 3 loaves of bread and half a dozen apples. The total came to 12 tokens.

Next she had Rican take her to the garment booth. "I need clothes for all the members of my team." She told the woman.

Rican showed her earth tone, baggy pants with drawstrings at the waist.

"How much per pair?"Rose asked her.

"6 tokens." Rican replied.

"I don't suppose you get an employee discount or anything, do you?" Rose asked.

Rican looked at her for a moment, then turned to the woman behind the counter. "Give her 5 pairs of the trousers for 24 tokens." She said.

Rican then picked out sizes for each member of the team including Rose.

Rose thanked her and handed over 24 tokens.

The next stop was the Cooper, to see about a replacement bucket.

"Seven tokens seems like an awful lot for a bucket!"Rose exclaimed to the man.

"Well, it is fine craftsmanship and a great deal of work!" The Cooper said.

"Do you have a used bucket, or a sample bucket that's cheaper?"Rose asked.

The man rolled his eyes, dug around under his table and produced a well worn bucket. He plopped it down on the table. "Three tokens." He said.

"I'll take it." As she paid the man Rose thought about the fact that her angry outburst yesterday had cost her an entire day's wages.

With just nine tokens remainingRose purchased another towel for four tokens and was on her way home with five tokens still in her pocket, she then decided she would try to save five tokens each day.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The group began to fall into a routine living in the caves. Rose and Aaron took turns going to work early everyday so that they could do the group's laundry before the other workers arrived. They were also figuring out other things they could make for meals and had added soup, something that passed for fried rice and oatmeal with honey to their repertoire.

After 14 days in the mines, Rose had managed by buy everyone their own soap, towel, and razor and (unknown to the rest) had a total of 70 tokens saved up, so Aaron could buy materials for tools.

As the group was eating their evening meal of bread and soup, Jack began complaining about mining aquanda. "Even in its raw state the stuff is so hard that I can hardly break enough of it off each day to make my asinine quota!"

"Jack! That's it! I've been so stupid!" Aaron exclaimed.

"What?" He said as everyone looked at her expectantly.

"Aquanda is one of the hardest elements I know! The cave wall we're going to try to break out of is a metamorphosis granite called gneiss. It's basically a slurry of various types of rock, ore, granite and so forth that were melted together under extreme pressure..."

"ACK! Air! What's so important about this 'nice' rock?"

She smiled her patient smile that she saved for Jack when he didn't want details.

"Jack, aquanda is much harder than the gneiss that the wall of the cave is made of. Now I know the punishment for stealing is severe, but to get out of here we need shards of aquanda that we can use to make hatchet and chisel type tools with. We can use the longer side pieces from the bucketRose smashed a couple weeks ago, as the handles."

"I don't know, Aaron, trying to get some aquanda shards out of the mine is dangerous." Jack warned.

Aaron thought for awhile. "Have you noticed that the fire chondrite and aquanda have a similar appearance?"

"Yeah,...so?"

"What if you said you wanted to increase your production and so you were not going to come home for lunch but were just going to heat your lunch at the work site with some fire chondrite you brought from home. You show the fire rocks to your boss when you first arrive so you aren't accused of stealing them. At lunch time you light the rocks, heat your soup, put out the fire and gather up the rocks. At some point you switch them for aquanda leaving the chondrite in its place."

"It is very risky." Luce stated. "I will do it."

"Are you sure."

"I am."

Aaron opened the bag of fire chondrite and searched through the rocks looking for ones the size and shape she would need for tools and then handed them to Luce.

"Try to find pieces similar in size and shape to these." She said.

Luce nodded and put them in the cargo pockets of his pants that he would wear the next day.

"To make this believable you'll have to take the cook pot and the tripod so you can heat up your soup." Aaron said.

"And if your cover story is that you want to increase your quota then you are actually going to have to do it." Jack added.

"I understand. I will be successful."

* * *

The next day Luce successfully smuggled half a dozen shards of aquanda out of the mine. Since Aaron could easily tell the difference between the aquanda and the fire chondrite they hid the aquanda in the bag of fire stones.

Rose went to the concession area alone that evening and went right to the booth where Rican was working. She told the woman that Jack's bootlaces had broken and asked where she could get something to replace them. Rican directed her to the leather smith who sold her several pairs of long leather laces. Next she went to the cutlery vendor and purchased a sturdy handled knife that did not have a serrated blade. One thatAaron could use to fashion handles for her tools out of the slats that had been the sides of the wooden bucket she smashed.

Since she wasn't going to have to buy tools with the 70 tokens she had saved up, Rose purchased a small, three legged wooden stool so the person on watch would not have to sit on the cold, hard floor. She was also able to purchase small feather pillows for each member of the team. It took every token she had to buy these luxuries but she was actually feeling quite happy and believed her aquanda tools would get them out of the caves.

* * *

Five days later, Rose and Theta were returning to their compartment after their daily showers in the laundry when Theta was suddenly hit by the blast from a modified weapon. He crumpled to the floor in pain.

"Theta!" Rose yelled and instinctively bent down to help him. She heard a low, wicked chuckle and looked up to see Dace step out from behind another passageway. He had the weapon pointed at her.

"Yellow Hair, I want that sample from you **now**." he said in a sinister voice.

"Go to hell!" She said as she pulled herself up to her full height.

"I want to make sure your amator gets to watch this!" he said with an evil grin.

He leaned his weapon against the wall, well out of Rose's reach, and with one swift motion grabbed her by the shoulders. He powerfully slammed her back against the wall, nearly knocking the wind out of her with the force. Then he looked over his shoulder to make sure Theta could see everything that he was going to do to her. Theta was on his knees in pain and still unable to move or speak.

Dace thrust his hips up against Rose's body and began kissing her. She pinched her lips together tightly and tried to turn her head to the side but that did not deter him. She closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the sight of him. "Get off me!" She yelled.

His hands began roaming her body. He violently pulled her t-shirt out from the waistband of her pants. She thought she was going to throw up just from his stench. He slid his hands under her shirt. She tried to wrestle away from him but he had her firmly pinned to the wall with his body. When she tried to free her arms to strike him, Dace grabbed her hands and pinned them to the wall, her arms over her head. Theta, still unable to move, found his voice. "**NO**!" he croaked.

In one deft movement Dace grabbed his weapon, walked over and kicked Theta in the stomach. Rose lunged at him and managed to plant a firm blow in his solar plexus before he shot her with the weapon and then for good measure shot Theta again.

Dace stood patiently waiting until both of them were sufficiently recovered as to know what was going on, but still unable to prevent it. Theta, crouched in pain on his knees, watched in silent horror as Dace advanced on Rose. She too, was on her knees, unable to move or speak. Dace ran a finger down the side of her face, down her collar bone, and across her breasts.

Dace then kneeled in front of her who was still paralyzed from the blast. He looked over his shoulder at Theta and said "How does it feel to know another man is going to have his way with your woman while you can do nothing but watch?"

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" Theta managed to utter in an angry, hoarse whisper.

Dace smiled. Still on his knees in front of Rose, he began to unbutton his pants.

Suddenly, Dava, Rose and Aaron's boss from the laundry, swung at his head with one of the wooden oars used to stir the dirty clothes. Using the oar like it was a baseball bat she connected with his head as if it were a piñata. Dace fell to the floor and was out cold.

Dava reached down and helped Rose up and then instructed her "use your towel to tie his hands behind his back."

Rose looked at her, awestruck, and then did as she was told. While she was tying Dace's hands, Dava went to help Theta. Once he was able to stand again she said "We must take Dace to the prostitutes. They will take care of him."

"Dava, why did you help us? You'll get in a lot of trouble..."

Dava put her hand up to stop Rose from saying more. "Several years ago Dace wanted me the same way he wants you now. He killed my amator so that I would have to go live with and work with the prostitutes. Dace did horrible, unspeakable things to me, and I know he would do the same to you."

Theta and Rose exchanged glances and Theta moved closer to Rose in a subconsciously protective fashion. Dava pulled up the bottom of her long blue skirt and showed them scars on her ankles where she had obviously been shackled. "I do not want you to know what else he did to me."

"How did you escape from him?" Rose asked.

"Eventually he tired of me and I was able to get a job in the laundry. Now I am merely paying him back for all the evil he did to me. I still have friends among the prostitutes and they have friends among the guards. Dace is despised by many people. The prostitutes will have no trouble finding guards who will ...make him disappear forever. Now hurry, we must make sure no one sees us take him to the prostitutes."

Theta, Rose, and Dava drug the unconscious Dace to the compartments where the prostitutes lived and worked. Dava found the friend she was looking for and told Rose and Theta to get back to work, she would talk to her friend in private and everything would be taken care of.

Without any words being spoken between them, Theta and Rose quickly headed back to work, still feeling the effects of Dace's attack on them.

* * *

That night at the evening meal, Rose and Theta said nothing about the encounter they had with Dace earlier that day. They thought it was safer for the rest of the group not to have the knowledge that they had helped make him disappear.

Instead Rose asked if the aquanda tools were ready to be put to use, which they were. After the dishes had been washed Aaron went behind the screen in the toilet area and retrieved the tools she had constructed.

"I thought the safest place to keep these would be in the toilet area. They won't be readily visible and I doubt that the guards would ever search there." She showed them the six tools with wooden handles that could be used as hammers and chisels.

"The biggest problem we have now," she continued "is making sure no one sees us or hears the chipping and chiseling of the cave wall."

"I've come up with a work schedule." Jack said. "We will work in teams of two, one keeping watch while the other works and you can switch off as you become tired. We'll start working every night one hour after lights out and quit one hour before reveille. That will give us 6 hours each night."

"I bought 2 new blankets today when I went shopping so we can use two of the old blankets to muffle the sound as we work. When I get more tokens I'll buy more blankets." Rose said.

It was decided that Rose and Aaron would take the first 3 hour shift working on the cave wall each night and Theta and Jack would take the 2nd shift. Luce would rotate so that every 5th day one of them would get a full night's sleep.

Before Rose and Aaron left the compartment, Theta pulled Rose aside "Are you ok?" He asked referring to the attack by Dace earlier that day.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Good actually. I know we don't have to worry about Dace anymore."

Theta studied her for a moment then pulled her into a hug. He knew they had survived a very close call that afternoon and he was relieved to have her there with him, intact.

At 10:30 that night Rose and Aaron headed out of the compartment with 2 buckets filled with tools and the sonic screwdriver, 2 of the old blankets and one torch. When they arrived at their work sight, Aaron showed Rose the weakest areas of the rock and where he needed to begin working.

The work space was very small and they barely fit into it at the same time. When Aaron was ready to begin work Rose went down to the fresh water spring to keep watch. After an hour and a half she went back up the narrow cavern and took Aaron's place while she went down to keep watch at the springs.

When their 3 hour shift was up, they silently slipped back into their compartment and sent Theta and Jack out to continue the work.


	23. Chapter 23

**sorry it took me so long to get these chapters up! but i hope they make up for it!

* * *

**

**Chapter 23**

Over the next several days the work on the cave wall progressed very slowly.

On the 32nd day in the mines Rican and her entire family came to their compartment immediately after working hours.

"There is a celebration every third lunar cycle before the Scorpion's have picked up their shipment of aquanda. The clotheslines are taken down and there is a big party in the outdoor laundry area." Rican began. "We were hoping you would use that happy time when there is music, food and drink."

"I'll go," Aaron said and the rest of them agreed.

"Wonderful!" Said Rican. "Get out your mugs and we will celebrate with some of my wine!"

Theta and Rose exchanged glances remembering how uninhibited the wine made them feel when they drank it a few weeks before.

"With only 40 days until the collection, I will have to get to work making a new dress for Kareen." Rican said happily.

Rose looked down at her shoes. The woman was so happy and had no idea that they would use the diversion of the party to make their escape.

Theta noticed Rose's sudden change of mood and knew what she was thinking. He thought to himself '_Rose, we have to get ourselves out of here. That's our number one priority and you know it.'_ He said nothing.

Rican and her family finally went home, but not before the group had consumed 3 bottles of her wine.

Theta announced that since they were all feeling a little tipsy from the wine that they would take the night off from working on their escape.

Rose took first watch by the fire, and the rest of them gratefully went to bed and fell asleep quickly. As soon as everyone was asleep Theta slipped out of his bed and went to sit with her by the fire. Since beginning work on their escape, they hadn't had any time together except for the few minutes it took them to walk to the laundry each day so they could take turns showering during the midday break.

They sat together by the fire in companionable silence, still feeling the effects of the wine Rican had given them.

Theta looked at his beautiful companion, the firelight dancing on her face. They were making progress on the hole in the side of the cave, Dace was gone, and here in the mines, Rose belonged to him. He wanted to hold her, touch, and make love to her without the threat of death. He realized the wine had gone to his head again and quickly looked back at the fire.

Rose leaned her head on his shoulder. It was the first real physical contact they had had since they began working on their escape. Because of the work schedules, they were no longer sleeping at the same times so they didn't even have the minimal contact that came from sleeping, fully clothed, in the same bed.

Theta put his arm around her and lightly kissed the top of her head.

Finally Rose spoke "Let's wait 10 more days and then tell Claudio that I think I'm pregnant."

"With Dace gone..." Theta began

"I know, but Claudio will still send me to live with the prostitutes if you haven't gotten me pregnant in 30 more days."

Theta nodded his head and Rose put hers back on his shoulder. They sat that way through both of their watches. After their watches were over, Theta woke Jack to take his turn and then gratefully spooned up against Rose in the bed.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

The daily routine returned for the group. Progress was slowly being made on their escape route. A hole big enough for Aaron to stick her head through now existed in the side of the cave. They could reach out through the hole and touch the soil on the other side. It gave them hope.

It had been 10 days since Rose and Theta had their quite moment in front of the fire. As they walked to the laundry for their midday showers Rose said to Theta, "Tell your boss today that you think your amator is pregnant and that we both want to see Claudio."

Theta nodded "I hope this works." he said.

Later that afternoon a guard came to get Rose from the laundry and escorted her to the great hall where Claudio was waiting. Again Theta was there ahead of her. She hoped that he had mentioned the protein marker to Claudio.

Rose and Theta stood together in front of the Supreme Ruler of the mining complex. Claudio looked down at them and said to Rose "You believe you are pregnant?"

"Yes." she began "The physiology of women on the planet I come from is slightly different from the women on your world. When a woman from my planet has been pregnant for just a few days a protein marker appears in her blood. I believe that your medical device should be able to find the protein marker if I am pregnant."

Claudio stared at her. "I have never heard of such a thing!"

Rose and Theta could clearly tell that he did not believe her.

"How many women from Earth have you known?" Theta asked.

"None!" Claudio responded.

"Well, then all you have to do is scan her looking for the protein marker to know if we are telling the truth," Theta said.

Claudio stepped down off the platform and walked over to stand in front of Rose. The medical device whirred as he moved it up and down and side to side in front of her.

He stopped the machine and looked up wide-eyed at Rose. "You have a protein marker in your blood! The Protectorate will be most pleased when I inform him that you are pregnant!"

"Yes!" Theta said. He was rejoicing that Claudio had bought their ruse, but Claudio believed he was truly happy that his amator was pregnant.

Rose smiled at Theta, as relief flooded through her at the realization that Claudio believed she was pregnant.

"I will be handsomely rewarded by the Protectorate!" Claudio said. Then he turned to one of his guards and said "Give them the rest of the day off and take them to their quarters!" He spun on his heel and disappeared.

The guard took Rose and Theta back to their quarters and said, "You may put your privacy curtain down until the work shift is over." Then he walked away.

Theta did not hesitate, but went right to work rolling down the privacy curtain.

"Uh, Doctor, what did you have in mind?" Rose asked.

"Sleeping, Rose. Working on our escape route from 130 to 430 every morning is getting to be very tiring."

Four hours later Theta and Rose were still sound asleep when Luce and the rest of the group returned from their day's labor.

Luce quickly rolled up the privacy curtain while Aaron shook Theta's shoulder. "Theta! What's going on here? Theta, wake up!"

"Huh? Oh, Aaron."

"Um Theta?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll explain in a minute." He turned toward Rose and gently shook her shoulder "Rose! Wake up!"

"What is it, Doctor?"

"Everyone's home and we got some 'splaining to do!"

"Oh."

During their evening meal Theta explained to the team how they were able to fool Claudio into believing that the Rose was pregnant.

"You all have to treat Rose like she's pregnant." Theta began. Rose snorted and rolled her eyes. "And **_you_** have to act like you're pregnant!" he said to her.

"Everyone has to believe she is expecting or...well, we all know what the "or" is."

"Well, Rosie, you should probably go over and visit Rican and tell her that you just found out you're pregnant." Jack said. "You know how women are, they get all excited and have to tell their best friend..."

Jack would have said more but the look Rose was giving him, well, he was just thankful she didn't have a weapon or he would have been dead by now.

"Flyboy is right. You should inform Rican that your pregnant." Aaron stated.

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this place!" Rose said.

"Well, you know," Jack began "if any of us get caught outside the compartment in the early morning hours we can now blame it on Rosie! She needed water, she couldn't sleep, she was uncomfortable, and she was throwing up..."

"Thanks flyboy." Rose's voice dripped sarcasm.

Suddenly Rican appeared at the door to the compartment. "I just heard the wonderful news," she said.

"What?"

"About Rose being pregnant!"

"How did you find out so fast?"

"Good news travels quickly here!"

Theta recovered quickly and realized he needed to take his own advice. He walked over to Rose, put his arm around her, kissed her on the cheek and said, "We are very happy, aren't we honey?"

Rose grimaced but smiled at Rican and said, "Yes."

"Well, I am working on Kareen's dress for the party so I must go. Congratulations again!" Rican left the compartment as quickly as she had arrived.

Rose silently prayed to any gods that were listening to get her out of there soon.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Five days before the Scorpion's were to arrive, the group finally had a hole in the side of the cave big enough that Jack could fit through. They began night time reconnaissance missions to get the lay of the land, count the number of Scorpion's guarding the mine and determine the location of the TARDIS, which surprisingly was still were they left it.

The mine workers had begun bringing aquanda out of the mines and putting it in large wheeled bins in the great hall. Knowing that the aquanda would go out of the mines through the great hall and the main entrance to the caves helped them plan their strategy.

They also discovered that half a dozen Scorpions guarded the mine during the day, but at night, when the slaves were sleeping, only four Scorpions guarded the mine entrance. The two additional guards came on duty at 5:30 AM, the same time as reveille in the mines.

At 5:00 AM on the group's 75th day in the mines, the entire group was looking down on the four Scorpions guarding the mine entrance. Aaron carefully moved away from the group and concealed herself in the underbrush of the wooded area. Once she was situated, Jack threw stones close to Aaron's position to get the attention of the guards. When one of the guards came to investigate the noise, Aaron crept up behind him and put her powerful arm around the man's throat. When the Scorpion guard was no longer breathing she let him drop to the ground and took his uniform. The Scorpion guard carried a, what looked like, a p-90, as well as a modified weapon.

Once Aaron was dressed in the Scorpion uniform she called out "Venuto! Rapidamente!" (a/n: Come! Quick!) As the other 3 guards ran toward Aaron. she shot each one with the p-90. When they were down he shot each of them 1 more time, just for good measure. Jack, Theta and Luce then took their uniforms and weapons.

Luce was given a modified weapon only and the p-90 his Scorpion had carried was given to Rose. Theta, Jack, Aaron and Luce took up posts guarding the entrance to the mine while Rose continued to hide in the woods where she had a broad vantage point and could watch their backs just in case.

At 5:30, when the rest of the Scorpions came on duty, they were promptly disposed of with the p-90s and their weapons and uniforms taken. The group then hurried back to their secret entrance to the cave, removed the Scorpion uniforms and hid them in the cavernous passageway that led from the mine opening they had created, back down to the underground springs. They hid the weapons there as well, but took the p-90s with them, hiding them in their baggy, earth tone pants. They hoped they would blend in better with the rest of the slaves if they at least wore the same pants as everyone else.

They hurried to their work stations so they would not be late and the guards would not search for them.

Shortly after 6:00 AM the mine workers began pushing the heavy wheeled bins full of aquanda outside the complex as the mine guards lowered the force field and kept their weapons trained on the workers. There was so much activity no one noticed the few missing Scorpion, just as planed.

The workers in the laundry took down all the clotheslines in the outdoor area and began setting up tables and chairs for the party that would commence as soon as all of the aquanda was outside of the mine by the landing area.

Since the force field to the outdoor laundry area was always on, it was, from the guard's standpoint, a perfect place to allow the workers to party. They could be outdoors, but there was no where for them to go and the only way out for the workers was through the laundry. That meant that the guards could sit and relax in the laundry area, watch the festivities, eat and drink, while still blocking the slaves only exit.

Aaron learned from Rican that it usually took about four hours to get all of the aquanda to the staging area outside of the mine. As soon as that was accomplished, the workers were allowed to party until lights out, which meant almost 12 hours of partying. Rican said that wine and ale flowed freely at the party and that many of the guards joined in the revelry.

As the first partiers began to arrive in the laundry, Rose told her boss that she wasn't feeling well, that she thought it was morning sickness and asked to go to her compartment for a short time. Dava allowed her to go, but Rose didn't go to the compartment. Instead she headed to the great hall. It was difficult for her to make her way to the great hall as everyone was headed for the laundry and the party. When she finally arrived it did not take her long to find the rest of the group.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chaper 26**

It was afternoon when they got together. They headed right for the stage where Claudio stood every time he addressed the workers. They found the door he always seemed to disappear through, and with very little effort knocked it down. Inside they found Snake reclined on a plush couch with servant girls in togas all around him, feeding him grapes and wine, massaging him, and fanning him with huge feather fans. The room was filled with huge, colorful floor pillows, candles, and sheer curtains hanging from the ceiling.

Snake was so taken by surprise that he didn't know what hit him when he was shot in the shoulder with the modified weapon.

"Now Honey," Aaron said "We want to know where the control panel is that turns off the force field in the outdoor laundry area."

Snake would not answer.

"Tie him up!" Ordered Aaron.

Jack and Theta did so with strips from their blankets that they had cut that morning.

"Aaron." Jack said and she began a search for the control panel. She quickly found what she was looking for and disabled the force field by removing some type of wire.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" Jack ordered.

"Uh, Jack, we can't just leave these people. So the force field is turned off, they don't know that, they don't know Snake has been taken out, and what about Rican and Kareen? We owe them more!"

"Aaron!" Jack said in an aggravated tone.

"Jack, you know I'm right!"

"Fine! You and Theta grab Snake and we'll drag him to the laundry. Have your p-90s ready." Jack then looked at the servant girls in the togas and told them to follow behind them.

Once the group arrived at the laundry, Jack peeked inside to see the location of the guards while the rest of the team stayed out of sight. With silent hand signals Jack told each team member the location of the guards he wanted them to target with their p-90s. Luce kept his p-90 trained on the bound and gagged Snake.

They rushed into the laundry and took out a dozen guards in seconds. "Luce, bring Snake in here!" Jack called as other guards heard the commotion and came to investigate.

Luce kept his weapon on Snake, while Jack warned the advancing guards that they would kill the Supreme Ruler of the Scorpions if they came any closer. Then Jack climbed up on the edge of one of the laundry vats so everyone could see him.

"Listen, people, you're free!" He began. "The force field is gone and you can do whatever you want! You can leave!"

The slaves began to come forward to hear what Jack was saying.

"Look," he continued, "Snake has been captured, Dace is dead, and so is Claudio. The force field is gone; you can create whatever kind of society you like! You guards are free too. If you are loyal to Claudio and want to stop us step forward now."

A handful of guards tried to rush the group and were immediately put down with shots. Another one shouted something about insolent slaves and received a laundry oar to the head courtesy of Dava. The woman then stepped forward to stand near Jack.

"I have lived in this complex my entire life. These strangers are giving us the chance to choose our own leaders, make up our own laws and venture into the outside world if we so choose. They have given us a great gift."

By this point Rican and Kareen had worked their way to the front of the group. Jack was telling Dava and the guards that they needed to keep the people away from the Scorpions who were sending aquanda to the ships.

"Once they're gone," Jack was saying "It will be safe for you to go anywhere, just stay away from them until they are gone."

Dava nodded. "I will see to it." Already, Aaron and Jack could see that Dava was taking on the roll of the leader of these people. They knew she would be a good leader.

"We have to go now!" Jack said

The group headed back toward the underground spring. They had stashed six Scorpion uniforms in the hidden cavern that led to their escape opening. Each of them, including Rose, now donned a Scorpion uniform, took a weapon and escaped the cave.

As they entered they clearing, shots fired all around them. "Damn they arrived early! Come on, we have to hurry!" Aaron yelled.

Running back to the TARDIS with Scorpions hot on their tails was harder then it seemed. When they reached the TARDIS, Jack ducked behind a log to hold off the attackers until everyone was inside.

Whilst returning fire from behind a downed log, Jack turned to his friends and asked, "Where's Aaron?"

Surprised, Theta replied, "She was right behind us. Luce, any idea?"

"No Theta. Aaron was indeed following us. She should be here."

"Aaron!" Jack yelled. All they heard was silence. Starting to worry, Jack looked at the other two. They were also worried.

"She can't be far, surely."

"She cannot. She was right behind me when we entered the forest. If we were to retrace our steps we will surely find her."

Just then a loud explosion shook the forest and another spurt of enemy fire hit a nearby tree. However the enemy fire was decreasing. Maybe the Scorpions thought that they had moved off towards the caves again. Jack decided that for the moment, staying where they were was the best thing to do. The Scorpions would continue on to the caves and then they could backtrack to find Aaron.

Twenty minutes later with no further sightings of any Scorpion troops the remaining members of the group went to locate Aaron. Carefully retracing their path until they reached the forests edge, but there was no trace of her.

"Where is she?'

"Do you think the Scorpions could have captured her?" Jack looked at Luce.

"I suppose it could be possible."

Jack looked back up the path, "Let's double check everything, maybe she veered off the path to avoid the troops."

Once again the three of them walked the path. This time carefully checking to see if Aaron had left the path.

"Jack. Over here!"

"What is it Luce?"

"It appears something was dragged off the path in this direction"

Nodding, Jack knelt down to examine the area of foliage next to the path.

"There's blood here."

"Is it Aaron's?"

"I don't know Luce, but we have to find her. Let's go."

Moving through the scrub was slow but eventually Jack noticed evidence that someone had come through here very recently.

"I think Aaron was walked through here. There's no drag marks and look there's a knife mark on all these trees."

Walking back past several trees Jack looked for and found the marks on them.

"She's marking the trees for us, telling us which way they're going. Keep your eyes open for this mark on any of the trees."

Both Theta, Rose, and Luce nodded and turned to the nearest tree. By using this method they managed to navigate their way through the forest to a large clearing. Jack wondered what to do next. There were no trees to lead the way. If Aaron could leave the clues on the trees he was sure she would find another way to tell them where she'd been taken.

Looking around the clearing for the clues he saw evidence of a fight at the far end of the clearing. Two Scorpions were lying on the ground.

"Over here!"

"What is it Jack?"

He pointed to the Scorpions. It looks like Aaron escaped them. Kneeling down he felt for a pulse. Not finding one he stood again and proceeded to follow the trampled down path that led away from the clearing. Continuing down the path they came to another clearing. In the middle of the clearing lay the prone body of Aaron.

"Oh my God. No."

Running over to her, Jack repeated the action of looking for a pulse. This time however there was a beat.

"She's alive but she's injured. We have to get her back to the TARDIS ASAP." They nodded and with everyone's help, they managed to make a stretcher and took her back to the TARDIS.

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**only a few more chapters left (not gonna tell u how many evil laugh) please review!**

**oh! im not gonna be here for a week so i hope u can survive that long without an update...lol**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Aaron lay on the bed, asleep. Her face was bruised, her hair was a mess, her chest was covered in bandages and she was missing her metal prosthetic leg.

Jack sat in a chair next to her, and listened to Theta.

"The chest wound is deep and there was some kind of poison in it, so the healing process will be slow, and the bruising on her face will go down within a few days. Her leg isn't that simple though, I have to figure out how to fix the prosthetic." Jack kept staring at Aaron, one hand on her arm, the other constantly running through his hair.

"Jack, are you listening to me? Jack?"

He finally turned away from Aaron.

"Yeah Doc, I heard you. How bad was the damage?"

He knew it was bad, but when he saw that even Theta had to sit down, he knew this wasn't just going to be bad. This was going to kill him.

"I managed to remove the prosthetic without harming any nerves, but the prosthetic, that's another story. She might not be able to walk again."

"Why cant you just let the nanites give her a new leg?" Rose asked from beside Theta.

"Because if he did, I would have to kill him." A tired voice came from the bed. Jack turned to Aaron and smiled.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself."

"How do you feel?"

"Like I just got hit by a train."

Jack frowned, "Are you in any pain?"

Aaron nodded, "Only a little."

"A little to much," Theta said. "We need to let her rest."

After much arguing, Theta and Rose managed to convince Jack to leave. On their way out, Aaron called for him.

"What is it?"

"There was nothing you could do Jack."

"Yeah, nothing I can do, just like back on the planet."

"Jack, I'm sure you did everything humanly possible"

"Yeah? Well obviously it wasn't enough, was it!" Jack snapped back, his face red. Aaron winced at the yelling.

"Jack…"

"Aaron, if I had been there, if I was the one in the back, I would have protected you. I would've taken it myself if I had to. It's my fault you got injured. Its my fault you were in that situation in the first place." Aaron took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Maybe so Jack, but no one, not even me, is going to think you did anything wrong." Jack sighed. "Go get some rest, I'm not going anywhere." Jack reluctantly agreed.

Jack walked slowly through the halls of the TARDIS, barely aware of where he was going. He finally arrived at his room, and stripped off his clothes, stained with mud, and blood. Her blood. He fell onto his bed, and waited for sleep. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow and this would all be a dream.

Maybe.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"_Over here!"_

"_What is it Jack?"_

_He pointed to the Scorpions. It looks like Aaron escaped them. Kneeling down he felt for a pulse. Not finding one he stood again and proceeded to follow the trampled down path that led away from the clearing. Continuing down the path they came to another clearing. In the middle of the clearing lay the prone body of Aaron._

"_Oh my God. No."_

_Running over to her, Jack started looking for a pulse. There was none._

"_Aaron…Aaron.."_

"Aaron!" Jack jerked up in bed. Sweat was pouring down his face, his sheets were tangled around him.

"Jesus." He fell back in bed, feeling like he had just run a marathon. This was the third time he had woken up from that dream.

He wasn't going to get any sleep. He didn't want to sleep. He got up, and walked into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, he saw a man still covered in dirt. His hair was tangled, more so than even he liked. Most of all, he saw a man afraid to look into his own eyes. He pushed away from the sink, and staggered into the shower. The hot water washed away the dirt, but did nothing to make him feel better. He felt like every muscle in his body was cramping, like he was inside a vice.

After getting showered and dressed, he got clean clothes , to replace the ones covered in her blood. He tried to sit and take his mind of her, but everything reminded him of her. He tried to read a book he picked from one of the TARDIS's many library's, but stopped when he remembered how she had stood by his bed and picked it up, a small smile on her lips. How she stood. How she walked, and ran. How she was now trapped in a bed, asleep. How when she woke up she might never walk again. He knew she seemed to take the news well, how she would seem to cope with it. He also knew that she wouldn't seem to blame him. What did that matter? He knew what she would really think.

"Stop this shit Jack, just do something, anything." He left his quarters, and started to walk to the med bay to see her. When he arrived, the bed was empty. Looking around, there was no sign of her being there.

Panicking, he ran to the control room. He found Rose sitting on her couch reading a magazine. She smiled when he ran in.

"'Morning"

"Have you seen Aaron?" Jack asked, still panicking.

"She's….."

"ROSE! CAN YOU PLEASE TELL YOUR DAMN 'HUSBAND' TO GIVE ME THE FUCKING SPATULA!"

Rose burst out laughing and Jack sighed in relief. She was alive, and by the way things sounded, she was back to her old self.

Jack shook his head and followed Rose, who was still laughing uncontrollably, down the corridors. When they both arrived, they both ended up laughing (or laughing even harder in Rose's case.)

Theta was running around the kitchen, with the spatula, and Aaron was hopping on one leg trying to catch him. After about ten minutes, both Jack and Rose calmed themselves down to stop Aaron from killing Theta.

"What are you doing here Aaron. You should be resting." Jack said and helped her into, what looked like, a modified wheelchair.

"Resting by butt. I'm fine, plus I was hungry and my lovely brother wouldn't get me food." All of them looked at Theta who smiled innocently.

"Alright, now that were all here, who wants pancakes?" Aaron asked.

"ME!" Theta and Jack yelled in a childish manner. The women rolled their eyes.


	29. A New Beginning

**Chapter 29- A New Beginning**

**Two months after planet Aru Orub……**

"Mum can you please stop hitting him!" Rose yelled at her mother and stood between Jackie and Theta.

Rose had managed to convince Theta to take them back home for a visit. Jack even agreed because Aaron was still recovering from her injuries (she still was convincing everyone that she was perfectly fine).

"Look at her, she's all beat up!" Jackie exclaimed and pointed at Aaron.

"Jackie, it's all right, I'm fine, its not his fault."

"I bet it wasn't," she still wasn't convinced. Aaron sighed. '_This is going to be a long day.' _

"I'm going to make some tea," Aaron said and started to roll to the kitchen. "Who wants some?"

All of them chorused yes and Jack went to help her. "Air?"

Aaron rolled her eyes, "Yea?"

"What's wrong with Rose?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with Rose?"

"I dunno, she's been sick this week, I'm worried." Aaron nodded and took the bowling water of the stove.

"I noticed that too. She might just have the flue or something."

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After convincing Jackie that it was not Theta's fault that Aaron got hurt, they were now in front of the tele. Rose leaned over and whispered into Theta's ear, "Can I talk to you out side?"

Theta nodded and they headed outside. When they stop at a good place to talk, Theta was worried.

"Rose what is it?"

Rose took a deep breath and rushed out her words. "I'mpregnantTheta."

"Sorry I didn't catch that," His blue eyes looked at hers questioningly.

"I am pregnant." She slowly spelt out the words for him knowing full well that this would come as more of a shock to him than to her. When he let go of her after about a minute her eyes started to glisten with tears of rejection.

"You...you…you…mean in…there is…" Rose nodded.

"The last Time Lord." Her hands went up to her face to hide the tears that were falling.

"Fantastic, that's fantastic!" He cried placing his hand on her tummy where their child rested. He knew something was different in the universe, he could feel it know he knew what: there was another Time Lord or Lady. At his touch Rose looked at him again, his smile nearly made his face split in two, he looked at her and wiped away the tears that remained.

"Rose Tyler, I love you, and our time tot, so much." He said and his lips lowered to hers. Everything around them seemed to just melt away.

When they released, Rose looked at him with happiness in her eyes, "You mean it?"

Theta smiled, "Every last word." He pulled her into another passionate kiss.

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"What's taking them so long?" Aaron asked at she sipped her tea. Her question was answered when Theta and Rose stepped through the door. "There you are! We thought u left us!"

Theta and Rose smiled.

"Alright something's going one here, say it!" Jackie exclaimed.

"There's no easy way to tell you this but, I'm pregnant."

Everyone started wide-eyed at the couple. After a few moments, a squeal was heard "I'm so happy for you two!" Aaron exclaimed and hugged Rose and her brother.

"Congrats." Jack said and gave Theta a pat on the back. All of them looked at Jackie, who stood there gaping at them.

"Mum, mum you alright?" As soon as Rose had uttered the words Jackie's eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed onto the sofa.

Theta looked at Rose with his blue eyes and shrugged, "Told you she couldn't handle it!"

"Help her!" Rose commanded the Doctor as he just stood there looking at her mother.

"I like it this way!" He made no effort to move, forcing Rose to give him a glare that could turn a Dalek to stone. "What? I like her when she's quiet!" Rose walked over to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of smelling salts from the cupboard.

"Take these." Rose shoved the smelling salts into his hand roughly. "Try and wake her up." Theta made a halfhearted attempt of wafting the smelling salts under Jackie's nose.

"That would be really effective if you actually wafted them under her nose not in the air."

"And you, Miss Rose Tyler should be sitting down not criticizing my medical skills in your condition."

"I'm not an invalid, Theta." She told him pointedly.

"While she's out for the count can't we just go? I mean then we won't be yelled at more or," He shuddered. "Slapped." He looked at Rose with pleading eyes, and she just raised her eyebrows at him. "Okay, worth a try." A groan from the sofa alerted the Doctor to Jackie becoming conscious again so he dove behind Rose's chair to hide.

"You're just like a kid who hides behind the sofa after watching a sci-fi show with monsters." The Doctor shrugged at her, but stayed behind the chair. "Mum?" Rose sat next to her mother on the sofa. "Mum are you okay?" Jackie's eyes focused on her daughter, she tried to pull herself up to quickly and winced as her head hurt for the sudden movement.

"Rose?" She looked at her only daughter as her eyes glistened. "Rose!" Jackie pulled her into a hug, crushing Rose to her. "Sweetheart, it'll be okay, everything will be okay."

Jackie rocked Rose back and forth.

"Mum? Mum?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Could you not rock me?" Jackie pulled back and looked at her daughter, Rose was as white as snow. "I think I'm gonna throw up!" With that Rose rushed out of the room, and proceeded to lose her stomach.

Rose slowly staggered her way back into the room with a touch more pink in her cheeks. She was slightly annoyed to find Theta still hadn't moved from his place behind the chair.

"Come here Rose." Jackie patted the sofa for Rose to sit next to her. "How far along are you?" Jackie spoke softly.

"Two months." A voice called over the chair.

"Theta, get your butt out from behind there and to where I can see you!" Rose ordered.

Looking like a little boy who just been sent to stand in the corner of the room Theta came out from behind the chair. "Thank you." Rose rolled her eyes before turning back to Jackie.

"Two months?" Jackie looked between them. "You've only been gone a few days. And he hasn't been like that," Jackie gestured to Theta meaning his appearance, "So he can't be the father!" She started to smile. "My baby, when are you going to tell Mickey?"

"Mum…"

"I mean you can get married now and raise your child with its father. Mickey'll be a wonderful dad." Jackie started to babble.

"JACKIE!" Theta commanded interrupting her, he looked at Rose nervously.

"Mickey isn't the father, when we were captured, we were forced to consummate our marriage."

"If you … and……then that means…" Rose nodded. "He's the father!" Jackie rose in pitch and began to sway,

"Here we go again!" The Doctor grabbed onto Jackie and wafted the smelling salts under her nose to prevent her fainting. "You know I thought it'd take her longer than that to figure it out, I mean with your silly little ape brains,"

"You're being rude again!" Rose told him.

"You love me though." He leaned over Jackie and gently kissed Rose on the lips.

"Always." She whispered as the pulled back. The Doctor's smile was wiped off his face when Jackie suddenly lashed out and slapped him.

"What did I do?" He gently rubbed his now bright, cherry red cheek.

"You got my only child pregnant how could you?" Theta stood up and backed away with Jackie following closely.

"Rose a little help here…" Theta asked as Rose settled herself down to watch the show.

"What are you going to do about Rose and the baby? Dump them somewhere?"

"Never!" He partly yelled at her, "I would never leave Rose!"

"You don't do domestic!" She accused him pointing a finger at him.

"I used to, but I will have my family on board. Nothing is going to stop that not even you Jackie Tyler." The Doctor's voice grew suddenly darker.

"I am not having my family taken from me again do you understand me?" Jackie stepped back. Rose knew better than to interfere when it came to the Doctor's previous family.

"Again?" Jackie couldn't help herself, the word just slipped out. The Doctor sighed in annoyance and hurt.

"I'm going back to the TARDIS, see you later?" He slipped past Jackie and moved towards Rose. He dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You bet!" Rose watched at he left. Jack and Aaron took this time to leave, leaving the mother and daughter alone.

"What did he mean Rose?" Rose gestured for her mother to come close to her.

"Theta lost almost all of his family in the time war, and he almost lost Aaron on Aru Orub. He was afraid that if he had another one the same thing would happen. Besides Theta didn't think that this," Rose lay a hand over her stomach. "Could happen, he thought I would have to be Gallifreyan to have his child." Jackie gripped Rose's hands in hers.

"I'm sorry Rose I just want you safe." Jackie proceeded to pull Rose into another hug where they stayed for quite a while.

After another ½ hour Rose decided to leave before she collapsed from tiredness.

"I'd better be going. He's probably up to something he shouldn't." Rose stood up and started to walk to the door.

"Be careful sweetheart,"

"I will Mum. Besides it not me that has to watch out." She gave her Mum a final hug, "Love you."

"Love you too Rose." Rose turned and began to walk away. "Rose what are you gonna tell Mickey?"

"I dunno!" She called back. "Don't tell him I will. Bye!" With that Rose began to make her way towards the TARDIS ready for her next adventure and a new beginning.

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**YAY ALL DONE! but dont worry...look for a sequal...dont kno what to call it yet..but i'll figure it out! love you all!**


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